For most of her life, singer-songwriter Taylor Muhl lived with two mysteries: a unique birthmark that split her torso into two different skin tones, and a host of chronic health issues that no doctor could explain. While doctors dismissed the distinct line down her abdomen as a simple birthmark, Muhl’s health told a different story.
“I probably did not get any health challenges until my preteens and my teenage years,” Muhl shared in an interview with TODAY. “I would go to doctors a lot. I would get the flu all the time or sinus infections or chronic sinus infections or migraine headaches. They couldn’t find anything.”
Despite undergoing CAT scans, MRIs, and countless specialist visits, the root cause of her autoimmune-like symptoms remained elusive. The questions started when she was a young dancer.
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“I first really noticed, ‘Wait a minute, why doesn’t my stomach look like the other girls’ stomachs?’” she recalled. When she asked her mother, the answer was always the same: “It’s just a birthmark, and you’re special.”
The answer didn't come from a medical journal, but from her living room couch. One evening, she was watching a documentary that featured an image of a person with the same two-toned torso. “It looked identical to my stomach,” she said. “It was the first time ever in my entire life that I saw anybody who had a stomach like mine.”
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A week later, she mentioned it to a doctor. “And I go, 'Well, I do have a birthmark on my torso and I saw this show.'"
After further testing, the truth was revealed: Muhl has a rare genetic condition called chimerism. She has two sets of DNA, two bloodstreams, and two immune systems. She had absorbed her fraternal twin in the womb. In her own words:
“I am my own twin.”
The diagnosis finally explained her lifelong health struggles. Her body was constantly fighting her twin’s cells as a foreign invader. “My body is treating my sibling’s makeup as foreign matter and it wants to reject it. And it can’t,” she explained. “My immune system is much lower than the average person’s... almost as low as somebody who has cancer.”
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From Diagnosis to Advocacy
Since her diagnosis went public, Muhl has embraced her unique condition, becoming a powerful advocate for chimerism awareness, autoimmune diseases, and body positivity. She now uses her platform to share her journey, offering support and visibility to others living with rare conditions and promoting a message of self-acceptance.
While the diagnosis was shocking, it brought an immense sense of relief, finally explaining a lifetime of questions. “I felt freedom [after the diagnosis] because for the first time in my life, I knew why my stomach looks the way it does,” Muhl told People, per Live Science. “Finally, this is making some sense.”
This article originally appeared earlier this year.
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Problematic homework question
A student’s brilliant homework answer outsmarted her teacher's ridiculously sexist question
From an early age, children absorb societal norms—including gender stereotypes. But one sharp 8-year-old from Birmingham, England, challenged a sexist homework question designed to reinforce outdated ideas.
An English teacher created a word puzzle with clues containing “UR.” One prompt read “Hospital Lady,” expecting students to answer “nurse.”
While most did, Yasmine wrote “surgeon”—a perfectly valid answer. Her father, Robert Sutcliffe, shared the incident on X (formerly Twitter), revealing the teacher had scribbled “or nurse” beside Yasmine’s response, revealing the biased expectation.
For Yasmine, the answer was obvious: both her parents are surgeons. Her perspective proves how representation shapes ambition. If children only see women as nurses, they internalize limits. But when they witness diversity—like female surgeons—they envision broader possibilities.
As Rebecca Brand noted in The Guardian: “Their developing minds are that little bit more unquestioning about what they see and hear on their screens. What message are we giving those impressionable minds about women? And how might we be cutting the ambitions of little girls short before they've even had the chance to develop properly?”
X users praised Yasmine while critiquing the question. Such subtle conditioning reinforces stereotypes early. Research confirms this: a study found children as young as four associate jobs with gender, with girls choosing “feminine” roles (e.g., nursing) and boys opting for “masculine” ones (e.g., engineering).
Even preschoolers avoided careers misaligned with their gender, proving sexist conditioning begins startlingly young.
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The problem spans globally. Data from 50 countries reveals that by age 15, girls disproportionately abandon math and science, while boys avoid caregiving fields like teaching and nursing. This segregation perpetuates stereotypes—women are underrepresented in STEM, and men in caregiving roles—creating a cycle that limits both genders.
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This article originally appeared last year.