I (24F) had a twin sister who tragically passed away from cancer when we were 15. We looked exactly alike—down to the tiniest detail. You know how some twins have subtle differences that make it easy to tell them apart? We didn’t. The only difference was our personalities. I was the quiet, shy one. She was the loud, outgoing one—though not particularly well-liked.

Before the cancer, my entire family knew that my sister had… issues. Not to speak ill of the dead, but she was legitimately disturbed. She tortured animals, stole from vulnerable people (elderly, homeless, children), and I honestly believe that if she hadn’t passed away, she would either be in jail for something horrific or dead in some other tragic way.

After her death, my family collectively decided to never speak about it again. They pretend she was an angel who lit up our lives. I’ve always just gone along with that for the sake of peace.

Anyway, I had my birthday party and my now-fiancé (we’ve been together since I was 19, he’s 2 years older) proposed to me. He never met my sister. During the party, my mom suddenly started talking about how much my sister would have loved to be there and began telling childhood stories… except she completely twisted them and made it sound like I was the crazy one who did all those horrible things. My fiancé just stood there in shock. I was speechless.

We didn’t cause a scene—we just exchanged a look like “WTF?” and got through the rest of the party. When we got home, he told me he needed a break and couldn’t be with someone who’d done those things. I tried to explain, but he thought I was just doing damage control and refused to listen. He packed a bag and left while I was crying my eyes out.

He ignored all my calls and texts for days. I finally called my mom, begging her to tell him the truth, and she just said, “Leave it be. If he wouldn’t accept you with your sister’s faults, he wasn’t worth it.” I hung up on her and haven’t spoken to her since.

I finally said screw it. I logged into my sister’s old Instagram account (we had the passwords growing up) where she used to post everything—from when she’d run away, to the messed-up stuff she did. I drove to my fiancé’s brother’s house where he was staying, showed him the proof, and even got in touch with people from our past—old friends, family members, her nurse, and some of our former teachers. Everyone who responded confirmed that I was the normal twin and she was the disturbed one.

My fiancé and I are fine now—still engaged. But now my mom is throwing a fit that I “dragged the family name through the mud” and says I don’t deserve to be in love because my sister “went through so much.” I mean… it’s pretty obvious now where my sister got her issues from.

Some relatives and friends are saying I should’ve just told my fiancé the truth directly instead of involving his whole family. I didn’t want any of them doubting me, especially with how believable my mom made her version sound.