Woman, 33, Learns That Birthmark On Stomach Was Actually Twin She Consumed In Womb

A model with two different skin tones was shocked to discover that it came about when she absorbed her twin while they were in the womb.

Taylor Muhl, 33, from Los Angeles, has her body split in two different colours, separated by a straight line down the centre of her torso. She thought it was simply a birthmark, until her twenties when she discovered that she suffers from "chimerism", a condition in which a non-identical twin dies in the uterus and is fused into the surviving twin.

As a result of the condition, Taylor has two sets of DNA, two sets of blood cells and two immune systems. The left side of the pigmentation is her twin’s genetic makeup while the right side is her own.

For years, doctors and numerous tests couldn’t figure out what Taylor’s condition actually was and they just dismissed it as a "birthmark". Taylor was uncomfortable about her two-tone skin and always tried to cover it up.

Now, after years of covering her stomach on photo shoots and asking for the blemish to be edited out of pictures, she has finally allowed the world to see her skin in the hopes of raising awareness about chimerism and to encourage others to embrace their condition publicly.

Taylor, from Los Angeles, told Barcroft TV: "I am my own twin because I have two genetic makeups within one body. It’s basically having totally two different humans under the same hood of the car, so to speak.

"When I grew up no-one said anything about my second colour skin pigmentation because no-one really knew. The only people that did know were probably my closest friends and family. Anywhere I went publicly I always kept it covered."

But as a model, she had to show her skin and she was so self-conscious of her appearance she even tried to have her birthmark lasered off.

She said: "I think my very first appointment was so painful to the point that it brought me to tears. I was just blown away because I couldn’t understand why it was hurting so bad if it was just a birthmark. 

"The doctor wanted me to come back for a second time and I just said, 'No way, it’s staying on me.' It was unbearable, so it cannot be removed. It’s been on me since the day I was born and it will be there ’til I leave."

Now that she’s publicly shown off her skin, Taylor says she is "finally free."

She said: "I definitely had times in my life I had been insecure about showing my torso. Women in general, we all have our own insecurities and having a torso that is two different colours was definitely one of mine. What gave me the confidence to finally come out about being a chimera is I realised I have been hiding this my entire life, almost pretending like it’s not a part of my life."

Taylor is now keen to inspire others to embrace being a chimera.