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Why Amanda & Gina Don't Speak to Michelle

posted 10 years ago by Tracey73
16 replies | jump to latest

It has been at least a year since the three women who were bound by chains and a horrific experience have spoken.

Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus were abducted by Ariel Castro between 2002 and 2004. Together they endured a gruesome ordeal before escaping in May 2013. But life outside the house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland has taken the women in separate directions.

"We're two different people," Berry, who hasn't spoken to Knight, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. "We all went through something really, really bad that probably only the three of us will ever understand. I wish her the best in the future."

DeJesus spent several years chained to Knight inside a room. They knew everything about each other, and DeJesus says there was a time they were friends.

"I think we did like each other at one point in the beginning," DeJesus, now 25, tells PEOPLE. But the women say Castro played mind games so they wouldn't trust each other. "Toward the end, me and Amanda started to open up and talk, and we became friends. Michelle and Amanda were struggling because I think [Castro] was playing them against each other so, I think, they never got along."

For now, Berry and DeJesus have become close friends who shared their story in Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland with Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan.

Last year, Knight spoke to PEOPLE when her book, Finding Me, was released. She said DeJesus was like a "sister," but everyone needed to go her own way to heal.

"I'm letting them go their own way and they're letting me go my way," Knight, 34, said at the time. "In the end, I hope that we get back together again."

http://www.people.com/article/cleveland-kidnapping-survivors-michelle-knight

Interesting comment:

I think Michelle is the one who has shut Amanda and Gina out, not the other way around. Gina's family even invited MIchelle to live with them. She blames them for how she was treated by Castro when all of the responsibility was his. She wanted the attention of doing a book without the other two. It is obvious by how little the other two are portrayed in her movie

The beauty is I'm learning how to face my beast ~ Blue October

[–] HorrorFanatic24 10 years ago

So you're blaming Michelle? Uhh no.

[–] PinkFlyingPasta 10 years ago

I wish they all had group therapy. There is no reason for any of them to hate each other.

[–] margaretotg 10 years ago

michelle said on dr phil that she doesn't even get individual therapy...:o omg!

[–] MixSwiss 10 years ago

I was right.. the mind games Castro played in that house still goes on today... A tidbit though... I remember Michelle said in an interview that she was hurt Amanda did not mention her or Gina in the 911 call. Kinda strange Amanda did not even mention two others were in the house on the phone. She goes "I'm Amanda Berry and I'm free now". She waited till the cops got there to say it... I think that was probably the final straw for Michelle after years of mind games by Castro...

[–] sweetheart_509 10 years ago

I hope there was more to the 911 call than that because she definitely should have mentioned that there were two other kidnapped women still in the house. Maybe she was too emotionally overwhelmed and forgot?

[–] movieinsider411 10 years ago

I thought that was weird too how she didn't say that there were two other girls there too. It's like she only cared about getting her and her daughter out.

[–] tabby062106 10 years ago

I do think all this is the mind games that monster played with them. But I also think Amanda was just so happy to be free after 10 years it didn't register for her to mention Gina and Michelle. Charles Ramsey said that when the cops showed up Amanda said there were 2 more girls in the house and she would not leave until the girls were removed from the house. Hospital staff said the girls would sneak into to check on each other.

[–] ddoyle27 10 years ago

I really think people are getting the wrong idea about this "they don't speak to each other" thing. Friendships change all the time; it's a normal part of life. We lose touch with people who were our friends in the differing stages of our life, not necessarily because one person did something or purposely ended the relationship. Are you still best friends with your best friends in 6th grade? or high school? or on your previous jobs? It's just a natural part of life. People seem to have expected Michelle, Gina, and Amanda to be like "The Three Musketeers." That's crazy! They were thrown together in a hostage situation. It's like men in combat. They do not immediately return home and cling to their war buddies - they re-enter civilian life and go on. They never forget their comrades, and, when they age, sometimes they re-connect with them. Except for minor things, such as who got the better TV, none of these three women have said anything to tear down one another's characters. They share a bond that can never be broken. But they don't have to be in an active relationship with one another. In fact, wouldn't it be tremendously unhealthy if they tried to be friends now? They would all be stumbling blocks to one another's recovery.

[–] saahlhok 10 years ago

If it's so unhealthy..why is Gina w/Amanda? whom she wasn't shackled to?

Michelle delivered & resuscitated Amanda's baby. Jocelyn referred to
Michelle as Auntie JuJu? That's deep stuff. I guess I just don't want
Michelle getting left behind..again.

I get that they may need to chill sometimes though, but something
seems off.

💂🇺🇸

[–] ddoyle27 10 years ago

Because we are now seeing Gina and Amanda together in these media appearances, when we have not seen them at all in the two years, we are assuming they must be really close friends. They collaborated on a project together, but I think they have very different lives. I honestly do not think they are going to parties together, calling each other on the phone all the time, etc. I think they all three care about one another, I just don't think the relationships are what we think they are or what we think they are not. All three seem to be quite protected with attorneys and representatives; maybe they have been cautioned not to say anything at all about the others, lest they be sued.

[–] seozattack 10 years ago

I always wondered why Gina and Amanda seem so close (even writing a memoir together) and why Michelle doesn't seem to be close with either of them.

[–] ddoyle27 10 years ago

I just saw an interview with Michelle on the 2-year anniversary, and the interviewer said, "Of course you probably haven't read Amanda and Gina's book..." and Michelle said, "Yes, I have. I loved it." I really don't think there is any negative feeling amongst these three women. The media just likes to play it up that way. Michelle had many, many opportunities to say something negative about the other two, and she has never done so. The same with Gina and Amanda. They have never said anything negative about Michelle herself.

[–] P_e_n_n_y_L_a_n_e 10 years ago

So true!
Plus, how can you move on with our life and establish yourself into the world again if you have a constant reminder of the hell you were in, even if it is one of the parts of it that helped you survive. Seeing each other a lot would be a painful reminder of a lot of things. They need to work through this and need time.

[–] roses888 10 years ago

@PennyLane: Then why do Amanda & Gina see and speak to each other if it's a reminder of the hell? How come those two have contact and not include Michelle?

[–] minkysmom82 10 years ago

I think the division is due to Michele wanting to be in the spot light. I think Amanda and Gina want to live private lives and Michelle put herself out there right away. Michelle is getting the attention she always craved in life along with love and acceptance from the public and she's enjoying it. I use to think they were being really unfair to Michele, but now i think i understand

[–] MovieBuffNow 10 years ago

Great observation...she was a girl that was invisible, abused, and unloved and now she thrives on the attention of strangers. I wish her the best and admire her strength and resilience.