Sometimes, it’s easier to keep information from people in their best interests. One woman on TikTok has shared a series of videos explaining her decision to not tell her elderly grandparents about her sister’s death. In her mind, it was easier to pretend to be her dead twin than to tell them the truth.
While many people felt the grandparents had the right to know, the woman was worried about what would happen if they knew the truth. And that’s why she waited to tell her grandmother until she was on her deathbed. One thing she couldn’t anticipate was how her family would react to the news.
More from CafeMom: My Wife Wants To Divorce Me Because I Refuse To Blame My Mom for Our Daughter’s Death
She first went viral in 2022.
In 2022, influencer Annie Niu shared a video on TikTok of her calling her grandparents. On the video, she wrote: “POV: your twin sister passed away 3 years ago but you still haven’t told your grandparents so now you have to call them every holiday pretending to be her.”
The video got thousands of comments and over a million likes. Many people expressed dismay at Niu keeping the secret, but a lot of commenters also shared that they understood why she was shielding her elderly grandparents from her sister’s death.
It may seem cruel, but it's part of her culture.
According to People, the woman posted a video in 2022 explaining why she didn’t tell her grandparents her sister had died. She shared that shielding the elderly from “terrible news” is “really common in Asian culture.” Additionally, the woman reminded people that “you can’t guarantee” such news wouldn’t kill them.
“My grandparents basically raised me and my sister so we were very close to them and we’re probably going to just continuously make up excuses for why she isn’t visiting them,” Niu shared.
More from CafeMom: Dad Says MIL Told 8-Year-Old Daughter That Her Mother’s Death Was ‘His Fault’
Her grandmother died this year, and they finally told her the truth before she passed away.
In July, the woman shared a new video with childhood pictures of her and her sister on display at her grandparents’ home, calling them the “favorites.” She revealed in the caption that her grandmother had died, finally knowing the truth about her sister.
“My grandma is with my twin now. We finally told her the secret we’ve kept for 4 years before she passed away,” she wrote.
What happened next wasn't something she anticipated.
As a follow-up, Niu posted another video from the home where her grandfather still lives. In the video, she is visibly upset as she walks through the home.
“You finally told your family that your twin sister passed away five years ago and they took down every single photo that had her in it (which is pretty much every photo in the house),” Niu captioned the video. “I counted 17 photos last time,” she wrote.
She finally shared why they never told her grandparents the truth.
Niu’s videos have hundreds of comments full of people asking why she never told her grandparents. Additionally, commenters expressed concern over why the pictures disappeared, so she explained everything. In the video, she explained that her extended family didn’t know about her sister’s death either.
“It was my dad’s decision. This past July, my grandma passed away and on her deathbed, my dad told her that my sister passed away and that she’s waiting for her on the other side,” she said. “I think it’s because he didn’t want to withhold this information but he also didn’t want to cause them any heartbreak. And, God forbid, they’re 92, something happens.”
She went on to explain that her grandfather still didn’t know about her sister’s death. And because of this, her aunts decided to “take down every single photo” in his house with her sister in it. “So imagine my surprise when I take my kids to go visit my grandpa and I look on the walls and none of our photos are there,” she said.
Although reactions to the story were mixed, the situation seems like it was far more complex than most people know.
