One woman went to extreme lengths to keep her twin’s death a secret. Influencer Annie Niu recently revealed on TikTok that, after keeping her twin’s death from her grandparents, the years-long scheme finally came to an end.
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Niu’s sister, an investment banker, died in 2019 after a battle with meningitis. She was 29.
“POV: You finally told your family that your twin sister passed away five years ago, and they took down every single family photo that had her in it (which is pretty much every photo in their home),” Niu revealed alongside a video of her in her grandparents’ home.
In a follow up video, Niu revealed how she came to keep a such a massive secret from her loved ones.
“I didn’t tell my grandparents and my extended family that my sister passed away. It’s my dad’s decision,” she said. “This past July, my grandma passed away. On her death bed, my dad told her that my sister passed away and that she’s waiting for her on the other side.”
Why Annie Niu Kept Her Twin’s Death a Secret
“I think it’s because he didn’t want to withhold this information,” Niu speculated, “but he also didn’t want to cause them any heartbreak, and, God forbid, they’re 92, and something happens.”
Much of the family found out about Niu’s twin’s death when her grandmother did. That does not, however, include Niu’s grandfather, who is still unaware about the tragedy.
Niu first opened up about the situation in a 2022 TikTok post.
“POV: Your twin sister passed away three years ago, but you still haven’t told your grandparents, so you now have to call them every holiday pretending to be her,” she wrote alongside a video of herself on the phone.
“This is really common in Asian culture. We try to shield the elderly from terrible news,” Niu explained in a follow up video. “A lot of people are like, ‘Well, they deserve to know.’ Well, they don’t deserve to die. You can’t guarantee that’s not going to happen if you tell them.”
Niu further noted that her grandparents “basically raised” her and her twin. Because of that, they were “very close.” With that in mind, Niu said she planned to “continuously make up excuses” for why her twin was absent from family events.