Lifestyle influencer Annie Niu has gone viral after revealing that she just told her extended family about the death of her twin sister, five years after her passing, out of fear that the grief could kill her grandparents.
Over the past years, Niu (@annie_niu) and her immediate family have been grieving the loss of her twin sister who tragically passed away due to viral meningitis.
In previous videos, dating back to 2022, Niu was candid about her journey with grief and revealed that she chose not to share the devastating news with her grandparents to protect them from heartbreak.
She also shared in past videos that she’d pretend to be the twin during phone calls so that her grandparents didn’t grow curious about her twin’s sudden disappearance.
Recently, the influencer went viral on the social media platform after revealing that she finally told some of her extended family about her sister’s death, five years after she’d passed.
“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),” she wrote on the video which now has more than 5.4 million views.
After sharing the post, many users who never stumble across her account asked her to explain why it took her five years to share the big news.
In a follow-up video, which was shared the next day, Niu explained to the flurry of newcomers why she didn’t tell her grandparents and immediate family about the death of her twin sister, revealing that it was her dad’s decision to not share the news.
However, her grandmother was notified this year about her sister’s death as she was on her deathbed.
“I didn’t tell my grandparents and my extended family that my sister passed away. It’s my dad’s decision,” Niu began in the update video.
“This past July, my grandmother passed away and on her deathbed, my dad told her that my sister passed away and that she is waiting for her on the other side.
“I think it’s because he didn’t want to withhold this information but also he didn’t want to cause them any heartbreak and god forbid they’re 92, something happens.”
After her dad shared the shocking news with the grandmother, Niu then revealed that members of her extended family, such as uncles and aunties, became aware of the devastating loss. However, her grandfather still doesn’t know about her sister’s passing.
In a video shared in 2022, where she spoke about her sister’s tragic death, Niu explained how withholding this kind of information from family members comes from Asian culture.
“A lot of people don’t understand that this is really common in Asian culture. We try and shield the elderly from terrible news,” she explained.
“And a lot of people are like, ‘Oh well they deserve to know’, well they don’t deserve to die and you can’t guarantee that’s not going to happen when you tell them.
“My parents basically raised me and my sister so we were very close to them and we’re probably going to continuously make up excuses for why she isn’t visiting them.”
As previously mentioned, Niu shared content of her pretending to be her deceased twins on phone calls with her grandparents in order to keep the facade going.
“POV: your twin sister passed away three years ago but you still haven’t told your grandparents so now you have to call them every holiday pretending to be her,” she wrote in a 2022 TikTok which has amassed more than 1.9 million likes.
While many TikTokers have expressed that they’ve never heard of the custom of protecting the elderly from devastating news, it has been touched on in the highly acclaimed indie film The Farewell, starring Awkwafina.
In the movie, Billi (Awkwafina) is torn by how her family in China refuses to tell her grandmother that she’s dying of cancer. Instead, they stage an impromptu wedding so that her grandma can see everyone one last time.
Beware, the movie is truly a gut punch so I recommend watching on a day when you can cry and process a tragic story.
At the time of writing, Niu hasn’t uploaded an update regarding her family or the photos in her grandparent’s home. However, she has since gone viral on the platform, gaining millions of views on her TikToks about her sister and her grieving journey.
The post TikToker Goes Viral After Finally Telling Her Family About Twin Sister’s Death After Five Years appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
