The daughter of the infamous Tromp family—whose road trip remains one of the most bizarre and unbelievable events of past year—has finally broken her silence.
The saga began when father Mark Tromp suddenly decided to round up his wife Jacoba and three children Ella, Mitchell and Riana, from their family farm east of Melbourne, and drive them to NSW.
Over the course of the 1,600km journey, the five family members parted ways or fled in separate directions, leading to a police investigation and to two being placed in psychiatric care.
According to news.com.au, eldest daughter Riana was reportedly found in a “near catatonic state” in a stranger’s ute in Goulburn.
In an exclusive interview with Woman’s Day, Riana revealed her father had been suffering from a mental breakdown, which sparked the dramatic journey.
“You have a few things and they do build up — you can get sick in some way,” she said.
During the ordeal, Riana even came to believe her father’s claim that the family was in immediate danger.
Throughout international media coverage of the saga, the psychiatric condition “folie à deux” which translates as “madness of many,” was used as a likely reason for the family’s strange behavior. Carbon monoxide poisoning, magic mushrooms, and brainwashing were event tossed about as explanations.
“We are all very embarrassed,” Riana said of the events. “We didn’t want to be famous, that’s for famous people.”
The daughter confirmed her family was getting on with their lives, nine months on from the saga.
“We are all happy, healthy and just trying to get back on track again and get over everything that’s happened,” she added.
