TL;DR:
- Lifetime’s new movie House of Chains, which premieres September 10, is inspired by the real-life story of the Turpin family.
- David and Louise Turpin kept their 13 children imprisoned in their home for years until one child escaped in 2018.
- Mena Suvari plays a character inspired by Louise, while Greyston Holt plays a character based on David.
Lifetime’s latest “ripped from the headlines” movie draws from a disturbing child abuse case that made news around the world. House of Chains is inspired by the real-life story of the Turpin children, who were imprisoned by their ultra-religious parents in a squalid home in California. It stars Mena Suvari and Greyston Holt and premieres September 10.
Lifetime’s ‘House of Chains’ is based on the story of the Turpin family
In House of Chains, Suvari and Holt play Laura and Tye, who are parents to six children. On the outside, they appear to be a normal, suburban family. However, Laura and Tye’s strict religious beliefs have led them to keep their children isolated from the outside world. As their older kids grow up, they begin to question their parents’ ways, which leads Laura and Tye to become even more authoritarian and controlling, ultimately leading them to abuse, neglect, and imprison their children. Eventually, the elder siblings band together to escape their home and alert the authorities about what’s really going on inside their family.
The movie, which is directed by Stephen Tolkin, is inspired by the situation of the Turpin family, according to ET. In 2018, David and Louise Turpin were arrested after one of their 13 children escaped from the family’s home in Perris, California, and alerted authorities about ongoing abuse. When police visited the home, they discovered the parents and their severely malnourished and abused children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, living in filthy conditions. Some of the children had been chained to the furniture, and none were permitted to shower more than once per year, the BBC reported. The Turpin parents eventually pleaded guilty to multiple counts including child cruelty, torture, and false imprisonment. Both were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Star Mena Suvari calls the story ‘fascinating’ and ‘complex’
Suvari spoke to ET about House of Chains and her take on the unsettling story.
“I’d been aware of — I think we all kind of heard of these stories of imprisonment — and it’s so fascinating, because on the outside it can look a particular way, and everything seems so structured and controlled, and there’s much more to those situations,” Suvari said.
In the movie, Suvari’s character falls under the spell of her confident, controlling husband. That was a dynamic the actor found interesting to explore.
“I think that that’s what really interested me, was how complex it was,” she said. “I think really just trying to wrap my head around how people can end up in situations like this.” Suvari added that she “was really fascinated by Laura.”
“When you first meet her in the beginning of the film, the situation she’s in and how she meets this man who is seemingly so sure of himself, and so strong, so confident, and she puts everything into him and invests everything into this relationship and just how it goes so sour,” she said.
The Turpin children have struggled since escaping from their parents’ home
Sadly, escaping from their parents’ “house of horrors” did not mark the end of the Turpin siblings’ troubles. When the story broke, donations and offers to help poured in. But in a 2021 interview with Diane Sawyer (via ABC 7), some of the older Turpin children revealed they’d been unable to access those resources. They said they struggled to find housing, transportation, and enough food to eat. When they reached out for help, lawyers and Riverside County officials who were supposed to help them brushed them off.
The ABC News report also revealed that several of the younger Turpin siblings had been placed in a foster home where they had again been abused. Six of the Turpin siblings have since filed a lawsuit against ChildNet, the foster care agency that placed them in the home, and Riverside County, CNN reports.
House of Chains airs Saturday, September 10 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
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