Featured Image Credit: TikTok/annie_niu
Topics: TikTok, Social Media
Jess Battison
A woman has revealed the heartbreaking reason she has been pretending to be her dead twin for years.
I know, it sounds like this is about to be some kind of fraud court case report or a Jeremy Kyle-like tale but I assure you, it’s really not. It’s honestly pretty sad and you can really see where she’s coming from.
TikTok user Annie Niu recently went viral when she shared an emotional video with the in-post caption: “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).”
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Obviously, this sent people into an absolute spin as she added that she’d previously counted ‘17 photos’ the last time she was there.
So, with plenty of social media users asking for an explanation, Niu followed up with another video to give a little more context to this sad tale.
Her closest family members of course knew about her twin’s death but she said it was her ‘dad’s decision’ not to tell her grandparents and extended family.
“This past July, my grandma passed away and on her death bed, my dad told her that my sister passed away and that she’s waiting for her on the other side,” Niu said.
She explained that she thinks her dad didn’t ‘want to withhold this information but he also didn’t want to cause any heartbreak’, adding that her family are elderly.
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But after her grandma was told, most people except her grandpa ‘all knew’.
“My aunts, apparently, have made the decision to take down every single photo that contained my sister,” Niu said. “So imagine my surprise when I took my kids to go visit my grandpa and I look on the walls and none of our photos are there.”
In previous videos and comments, she added that she had even pretended to be her twin on the phone to her grandparents to save them from the heartbreaking truth.
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And other users provided the context that in some cultures it’s believed that keeping images up of people after they have passed prevents them from moving on - hence the sudden removal of images of her sister.
In the comments, users felt sorry for her as they called it ‘really traumatic’ as some could understand why her family weren’t told.
“I’m so sorry you have to go through this,” many echoed as others related with their own similar sad experiences.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.