When Demi Burnett was trying to win Colton Underwood’s heart during season 23 of The Bachelor, she revealed that her mom – Tina Jean Jordan – had recently been released from prison after serving a sentence for embezzlement. But as it turns out, there’s a lot more to the story than that. Keep reading to find out the answer to the question – why did Demi Burnett’s mom go to prison?
In today’s blog post, I will cover the following topics:
- Demi Burnett’s mom was ‘messed up with drugs’
- Tina Jean Jordan was arrested and sent to prison in 2007
- She went back to prison a third time
Demi Burnett’s mom was ‘messed up with drugs’
When Demi appeared on the Ben and Ashley Almost Famous podcast – hosted by former Bachelor Nation stars Ben Higgins and Ashley Laconetti – she talked a lot about her unstable relationship with her mom.
Demi explained that her mom had been in and out of prison since she was a kid. As a result, she grew up with a single dad.
“My dad always took care of us. He was an amazing father. My mom was somewhere out there,” Demi explained. “It was never stable. Like, we never knew when we were going to see her. We never knew what was going on with her. She was messed up on drugs, messed up with men.”
The first time that Demi’s mom went to prison, she was around 12 years old. She says that her dad tried to protect her, so he didn’t tell her everything that was going on at the time.
“You know, parents want to protect you and that kind of information when you’re a kid. And especially me, I was this super adorable little blonde girl running around, and I think the last thing they wanted to tell me was your mom’s going to prison. So, it was some time whenever I was younger. Like, I didn’t see her for a while and I didn’t know why,” Demi recalled.
Tina Jean Jordan was arrested and sent to prison in 2007
Public records show that Tina Jean Jordan was arrested in 2007 for embezzlement, grand theft, forgery, and a few other smaller chargers. This was the first time that Tina ended up in prison.
About a decade later – when Demi was around 21 or 22 – Tina went back to prison for a second time after being convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
After serving one year of her 18-month sentence, she was released from FMC Carswell in Texas around the time that Demi was filming The Bachelor. Fans may recall Demi talking to her mom on the phone while she was on the ABC reality series.
In the season 23 premiere of The Bachelor, Demi got a call that began with “this call is from a federal prison.” She proceeded to chat with Tina about her release date.
“My mom is actually going to get out very soon and the next time I would potentially see her would be with Colton,” she gushed at the time. Of course, as fans know, Demi didn’t get a rose during week six and was eliminated.
Meanwhile, Tina spent the last six months of her sentence in a San Antonio halfway house.
She went back to prison for a third time
Demi says that after she was on The Bachelor, her mom went back to prison for a third time for, “violating probation or failing a drug test or something.” She was scheduled for release in May 2020.
The reality star admits that having a mom who was in-and-out of prison growing up definitely affected her. Demi says that not having that nurture during childhood made her “a bit harder” and “a little bit colder.” She also admitted to having “mommy issues.”
“Having so much love for this woman and you look up to her so much and you want her to love you as much as you love her and chasing her — it hurt. It hurt bad. I used to cry as a kid,” Demi said.
Were you surprised by the real story of Demi Burnett’s mom? Let us know in the comments below.
Sources: Ben and Ashley Almost Famous podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/almost-famous-in-depth-demi-burnett/id1238355247?i=1000473179259 ‘Bachelor’ Contestant Demi Burnett Says Her Mom Was In Prison For Embezzlement: Here’s The Truth https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/bachelor-contestant-demi-burnetts-mom-was-in-prison-heres-why/ 'The Bachelor' Demi Burnett Opens Up About Her Mom Being In And Out of Prison https://www.femestella.com/bachelor-demi-burnett-mom-prison/