Five Years After Escaping 'House Of Horrors' Jordan Turpin Says She 'Usually' Cries Each Day
In the five years since Jordan Turpin courageously snuck out of the “House of Horrors” she shared with her 12 siblings and called police, she’s gotten her own apartment and established herself as a burgeoning TikTok star.
But the 22-year-old admits the trauma she endured at the hands of her parents, David and Louise Turpin, has been hard to put behind her.
When asked about her normal day, Turpin recently told Elle magazine while chuckling, “I usually, um, cry.”
“Then I try to get myself to eat. And then I start to do my makeup, but I cry, so I have to do it over. And then I try to do a TikTok, but I’m like ‘Oh, people are going to say this and that about me,’” she said. “Then I’m like ‘Maybe I should get some air.’”
“I’m gonna go outside…and then I just cry again,” she said.
For most of her childhood and adolescent life, Turpin and her siblings were hidden away from society, kept chained to their beds, starved and beaten in what has become known as a “House of Horrors.”
It wasn’t until Turpin got the courage to sneak out of a window of their Perris, California home on Jan. 14, 2018 and call 911 using a deactivated cell phone that the children were finally rescued from their abusive home life.
Jordan Turpin at BirdyFest and the screening of "Catherine Called Birdy," on October 7, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Getty Images
David and Louise Turpin were later convicted on 14 felony counts, including child cruelty, torture and false imprisonment and sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars — but the hardships didn’t end for Turpin and her siblings.
Some of the Turpin children were sent to a foster home where the abuse continued. The family later filed a lawsuit against Riverside County and a foster care service claiming some of the children were placed in a home that was rampant with physical abuse, emotional abuse and severe neglect, despite their past trauma.
Turpin was also left struggling with how to acclimate to normal every day life, telling Elle she related to the scene in “Tangled” where Rapunzel first touches the grass.
“It’s tense watching her put her foot in the grass,” she said. “She looks like she’s never felt that before. I know exactly what she’s feeling.”
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Turpin tried to adjust to life in the outside world by getting a job at Taco Bell, but she said she struggled to connect socially with others at her workplace.
“I was super nice, and I’d always be like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I am super gentle. They would laugh and be like, ‘Why is she like that?’” she recalled.
Turpin went on to say that she was just trying to be polite and after years of growing up in a dysfunctional home, didn’t always know how to relate to others.
“I might have been annoying. But I had just gotten out of the foster home, so I was always super kind because I was scared of everyone,” she told Elle.
The 22-year-old faced more challenges in 2020, when the world shut down for COVID-19 and Turpin was once again forced to stay inside her home.
“When everybody started complaining about COVID, we were like, ‘Look at us!’ People were like, ‘This is the worst thing ever!’ They could barely handle it when it was only a week. They really don’t know,” she said.
She admits at one point, she felt the constant hardships were “never going to stop,” but her case received renewed attention in November of 2021 after Turpin and her sister Jennifer appeared on “20/20” with Diane Sawyer to recount their story and the ongoing problems with the child welfare system.
After the interview, Turpin told Elle she felt as though “people started listening.”
Today, Turpin is living in her own apartment, is exploring a possible career in motivational speaking or music and is establishing herself as an influencer on TikTok, where she often posts positive and upbeat messages for her thousands of followers.
“If you want to lighten up my mood, TikTok can do it,” Turpin said.
Music videos and snippets of pop culture served as a lifeline of sorts for Turpin as she endured years of abuse inside the Turpin home. Now, with the help of a team of professionals, Turpin has set out to create her own online and public persona.
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“She got it very quickly,” her publicist told the magazine. “That’s the thing about Jordan. Even though there are certain parts of society [the Turpin siblings are] all starting to navigate…they’re all very aware of the world. Jordan is really smart. She’s very aware of herself, which is not something that even [a lot of ] people who haven’t been through this type of tragedy can say.”
While Turpin has received support from celebrities like Hailey Bieber and Charli D’ Amelio, she told Elle she just wants “to start slowly” as she builds her public persona.
“Right now, I kind of need a break from my past,” she said.
In a TikTok message posted Monday, Turpin thanked Elle for featuring her in the magazine.
“I’m super excited, I had so much fun with Elle magazine,” she said. “I just want to say it was an amazing experience, I feel so honored to be able to do this.”
