After the sister’s very first media interview aired on ABC’s 20/20, Jordan and Jennifer Turpin say they are blown away by the amount of love they’ve received.
Jordan, who is now 21, and Jennifer, aged 33, are two of 13 siblings who were rescued from captivity in their abusive parents’ Perris, Calif., home in 2018. The Turpin children were aged 2 to 29 at the time that they were found.
While held captive in the “House of Horrors,” as their home is being coined, the siblings were starved and abused daily. They were also forced to remain seated for most of their lives and locked in cages or chained to their beds if they did not obey.
David and Louise Turpin, their parents, were arrested and convicted on 14 felony counts including cruelty to an adult dependent, child cruelty, torture and false imprisonment.
Jordan and Jennifer are the first of the Turpin children to speak on their horrifyingly traumatic upbringing in their first ever 20/20 interview titled “Escape from a House of Horror,” with Diane Sawyer.
The episode expanded upon additional and ugly details about the Turpin children’s post-rescue lives, which was a continuation of abuse and starvation — which was changed thanks to the support from strangers.
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Author and activist Jaycee Dugard, who spent 18 years of her youth in captivity, was so inspired by the Turpins that she set up a new fund through her foundation to support the siblings.
In a follow-up interview on Good Morning America this past week, Jennifer says she’s received “hundreds of DMs” since the 20/20 episode aired.
“All the love and support I’m getting,” she said, “it’s overwhelming, but it’s awesome.”
“When people are saying that I matter, and they say that I’m loved and that … I’m making a difference, I just like, I don’t understand it,” Jordan said through tears, “because my whole life, I thought that I didn’t matter and I wasn’t loved.”
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Jordan, who hopes to become a motivational speaker after graduating college, added: “My whole life has been so hard for me to understand why everything has happened, but if I can use that to make a difference in the world, then I think it can heal me.”
“I think everyone’s definitely in a better place right now,” Jordan said, speaking on behalf of her siblings.
“I know me, personally, I have a lot of healing to do from the last home I was in. I feel like there was a lot of damage done, and it’s just been really hard, but I think things are going to start getting better right now. We just have to have faith.”
Jennifer gave an update on her life since the interview, sharing: “I have my own place, I recently got a car, I have an adorable kitty cat and bunny, [and] I love my job, even when it gets hard.”
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