Exclusive
TMZ.com
The daughter who publicly ID’d her own mother as a bloodied participant in the Capitol riots feels some guilt for calling her mom out … but says she doesn’t regret it, for several reasons.
Helena Duke joined “TMZ Live” Monday to add some context to why she decided to out her mother, Therese Duke, in a viral clip where Therese gets punched by a security guard outside the Capitol after the insurrection.
Helena says her mom lied to her about her whereabouts on January 6 — claiming she was getting a medical procedure — so she wouldn’t have known Therese attended the riots … if not for the video of her getting punched.
hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn’t go to BLM protests bc they could get violent…this you? https://t.co/9ZkbAq0ehO
— Helena Duke (@duke_helena) January 7, 2021
@duke_helena
As for why Therese was in D.C. … Helena believes Donald Trump radicalized her mother about a year into his Presidency. She says it was “unsettling” how her mom flipped from lifelong Democrat to far-right Republican.
If you missed it … the day after the riots, Helena commented on the vid of her mother getting punched — “hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn’t go to BLM protests bc they could get violent…this you?”
Shortly afterward she went a step further by publicly ID’ing her mom, aunt and uncle as attending the riot.
Therese has since been fired from her job at a Massachusetts hospital … which stated her termination was linked to her being involved in the Capitol violence.
Due to all the fallout, Helena tells us she does feel some guilt … but she has a very interesting explanation as to why it seems she would do it all over again.