Last week we heard the news Gypsy Rose Blanchard is engaged to a man she met by corresponding with him while she was in prison, which is a bad idea judging from the two episodes I’ve seen of Love After Lockup. There’s renewed interest in Gypsy’s case following the premiere of the Hulu series based on her life, The Act, starring Patricia Arquette and Joey King. Gypsy is serving a 10 year sentence after she plead guilty to the second degree 2015 murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. Gypsy’s boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn, whom Gypsy met online and arguably used to kill her mother, got life in prison. Gypsy spent her entire life up until her mother’s murder confined to a wheelchair and fed by a tube as her mother treated her as disabled using various conditions that were entirely invented. Gypsy’s mother claimed she had muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, leukemia, and various other fake diagnoses meant to perpetuate a fraud. Gypsy’s mother, who had Munchausen by proxy, abused her physically, medically and emotionally.
The quote in the title is actually from Gypsy’s 2018 20/20 interview, which I only watched half of I’m not going to lie. I had just watched the entire HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest and I couldn’t take it anymore. It was hard to watch after learning that Gypsy had tried to escape and how the the system failed her. Plus she and Nicholas were so child-like yet so calculating and cruel on the the other. In the documentary Gypsy said that ten years in jail was preferable to ten more years under her mother’s care. In her 20/20 interview [via E! Online] she said something quite similar.
And the latest twist in her tale is one of the most surprising yet: Obsessed with Disney princesses growing up, the 27-year-old is getting her fairy tale ending, even if she’s behind bars. Gypsy is engaged, experiencing more freedom in prison than she ever did in real-life before Dee Dee’s death, once saying 10 years in prison was “better” than 10 more years under her mother’s care.
“In some ways they’re the same, but now I’m so much more freer,” Gypsy said of her life in prison compared to her life with her mother during her 20/20 interview. “The prison I was living in before with my mom, it was like I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t have friends. Over here, I feel like I’m freer in prison than living with my mom. [I can] live like a normal woman.”
Fancy Macelli, a family friend who also serves as a public spokesperson for the Blanchards, confirmed to E! News that Gypsy got engaged earlier this year, with InTouch Weekly first reporting the happy news.
“It’s something that she’s been keeping under wraps for a little bit,” Macelli shared with us. “It’s very exciting for her, she’s very excited.”
Macelli added, “She’s doing really, really well and I think there has been a maturity that has happened because now she’s able to have normal, normal-ish relationships with people that are not controlled by one person.”
Gypsy has also been on Dr. Phil, I saw a clip of that on YouTube, and I don’t know what to say except that she’s an abuse victim. She knows this, she talked about it in her interviews and said that she loved her mom and it never would have occurred to her. A lot of people are fascinated by the story and I was too when I first read about it, but seeing it on screen is a different thing. I couldn’t finishing watching The Act on Hulu and the story is just sad and awful. I hope she gets a lot of therapy in prison.
Gypsy has recently put out an appeal to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to grant her an early release.
Screenshots from E! video and ABC News video.
I can’t watch The Act, way too disturbing. Yes we have laws but if anyone had a good reason for murder it was this girl. I really don’t get why she’s in prison.
I don’t get why she is in prison either, she was clearly abused for years, failed by people who should have protected her and will likely have life long emotional and physical problems as a result of her abuse. I just don’t think she is a danger to the public, if anything she is likely to be vulnerable to further abuse due to her past.
I agree that she is vulnerable but I disagree about her being dangerous. She planned to kill one abuser so could do it again.
I think I’m ok with her killing another abuser. Hmm, that sounds bad, but yeah.
I don’t think we’ve drawn too harsh of a line as a society when we say you should go to jail when you premeditate murder. Yes, she was abused, her mother was horrible, but how bad does the abuse have to be before the abuser deserves death? Does it have to be physical abuse or would verbal abusers be okay to murder? 20 years qualifies, sure, but 10 years of abuse? 5? 2? A few times that were really bad? It’s a slippery slope. Let’s just go with having someone killed is wrong and she got a lenient sentence for her circumstances.
She’s serving the minimal possible sentence for the crime she pled guilty to, after evidence of premeditation involving correspondence with her then boyfriend (the actual killer) was uncovered.
If she’d actually wielded the weapon herself and killed her mother on the spur of the moment, she may well have been able to claim self defence. Which it essentially was.
I haven’t watched the documentary but did she or her boyfriend at the time reach out to the authorities and report her mother’s abuse?
No. It wasn’t the kind of abuse that left bruises. The mom convinced everybody that she was mentally retarded, needed a feeding tube, had muscular dystrophy, cancer, and on and on. CPS was anonymously called on her and she talked her way out of it. She convinced police officers that her daughter was retarded when they did a wellness check.
Numerous unnecessary surgeries were done on the girl. She claimed Gypsy had recurrent ear infections and had tubes inserted in her ears, she claimed Gypsy’s eyes were weak so she had numerous surgeries on her eye muscles…it was horrendous.
Gypsy was “homeschooled” from the age of 5, meaning they just lived together alone watching Disney movies and going to doctors. Her mom lied to her about her age, so she thought she was four years younger than she was.
Her mom would squeeze her hand in public if she started saying things too mature for her supposed mental age (which her mom claimed was 7.)
The police said the boy was autistic and had the mental age of a teenager.
I watched a bit of the her story and couldn’t stand any more. As a mother and a human being, I can’t imagine what on earth her mother was thinking. I don’t even want to use the term mother because she wasn’t. She neither her caretaker. More like her captor and abuser. I too hope she gets the therapy she needs to get passed it and live a productive and normal life.
I could not watch this past episode of “The Act.” She truly was abused but that show is like nails on a chalkboard. Patricia Arquette may be doing a good acting job as the mom but the character is so annoying and unlikable that I could not watch another second. Her voice bugs the hell out of me.
This whole case gave me a special kind of rage. Everyone failed her every step of the freaking way.
And her moronic neighbors that threw themselves front and center in the documentary I watched seemed pissed off at HER. Acting betrayed by HER. Kim and David Blanchard just seemed like such vile people in that interview. Instead of sympathy for the absolute hell that girl went through they seemed more offended that she had killed her abuser. Then on top of that you had David somehow stuffing himself through a window to play detective and apparently thinking it was all fine despite the wheelchairs being there. But apparently didn’t bother to check any of the rooms because the mothers body was in the home at the time. Would you not think that if you were concerned that someone was murdered, and you see the daughters wheelchairs that you would check the rooms to see if anyone was alive in the house needing help?
Everyone failed her. It’s sad when jail is a preferable option to the life you’re living.
She shouldn’t be in jail. Those tax dollars should be put to use giving her therapy, placing her in a home where she can learn to live a real life, helping her get some education and learn to hold a job etc.
She needs public services and support, not prison. She is not a threat. She did what she had to do after years and years of unbelievable abuse, she just wanted a chance at life and an end to such abuse.
I totally agree with you.
Who is looking out for this girl? I know she’s 27, but given how she was raised, I feel like she needs some kind of stable influence in her life. And some guy she met while in prison isn’t going to be it.
The whole story is so sad. I’m still baffled at how many people failed her.
Her father and stepmother. From what I read, they seem to care about her. Her father feels pretty guilty and wants to help her have a normal life.
This is where the 10 years in prison will help her. I think it’s actualy good that she has a few years of routine and transition, life surrounded by other people, rather than complete freedom after years of abuse. She probably would’ve completely flipped out on her own in her early 20s. And she does get services in prison. I’m not sure 10 years was necessary but I also think it’s a slippery slope to get off scot free for planning to murder a bad person. How much abuse qualifies a person as bad enough to kill?
This story intrigued me so I started doing a lot of reading into it. Dee Dee, Gypsy’s mother was suspected of killing her own mother by starving her and also suspected of poisoning Gypsy’s stepmother. I think Dee Dee would have eventually killed Gypsy too if she felt her meal ticket was about to expire. I really feel for Gypsy and I completely understand why she wanted her mother dead. I also don’t feel like Nicholas deserves a life sentence as the person he killed was clearly a monster. I hope she’ll get out soon. She suffered enough and deserves just some form of normalcy. To say jail is better than being with her mother that is very telling and sad.
That’s what I thought too…that Dee Dee would have eventually ushered Gypsy Rose into the great unknown once she got too old too manipulate…and eventually…she would have gotten a foster child to start the horror all over again…Because THAT’S the infrastructure that was setup by the system…that failed…EVERYONE!
That’s a chilling thought! And they would have handed that child(ren) over easily because she was a “saint”.
What was so rare about this case is that the perpetrator died and not the victim. They almost always end up killing the “proxy” in these cases.
I’m so glad to see these comments. I couldn’t watch past maybe the third episode? I don’t think I ever finished that one. So disturbing. And in my mind, anything happening after years and years of abuse should be scrutinized by those who fully understand the ramifications of so many volatile years. I don’t think she should be caged. Again. For years.
As someone also abused by their mother I completely relate to her saying she’s more free in prison. That’s how bad emotional abuse can be
Same.
What a tragic story in every way. This was self defence. Plain and simple. She killed the woman that was slowly and painfully killing her. How could every system fail her so badly??
Such a haunting, disturbing story. I hope she is getting lots of good therapy in prison and can truly live her life upon her release.
I can’t remember the details or where I read this, but in one article about the case it said that DeeDee was cremated. Her father didn’t want the cremains, so he flushed them down the toilet.
Just…. wow.
She should never have even been arrested. She killed one of the most abusive people we have ever heard of, and killed her only to escape that abuse. She is now fresh out of abusers, so she is no risk to the public or anyone else. She needs to live in a care facility and protected from other predators, not caged like some kind of wild animal.
Finished with this dumb criminal “justice” system. It is meaningless. Not a single aspect of it is effective. Nothing about it helps protect anyone, nor does it provide justice. It is trash.
Watching this documentary was like the feel-bad moment of the year. There is no justice in this case. Everybody failed her every step of the way until she got too desperate and made a decision from which there was no turning back.
I’m totally sympathetic, what her mother did was beyond cruel. But I’m curious, how is there such a disparity in Gypsy and her boyfriend’s sentencing?
IIRC, because she only suggested he do it, and he was the one actually planning and committing the murder, she was charged with murder in the second degree, while Godejohn was charged of murder in the first degree. I could me remembering wrong, though.
Her abuse at the hands of her mother and the fact that she didn’t physically commit the act. She also agreed to a plea deal, so minimum sentencing for the charge was recommended and granted.
Her boyfriend plead not guilty to the more serious charge and was found guilty at trial. I’m not sure if they offered him a plea deal or not.
It took me a moment to place this woman – wow that was all so chillingly creepy.
I didn’t know there was a show about this. I don’t have Hulu, but I’d like to watch that. I’m in Missouri and I heard about all this when it first happened. I was in some online parenting groups with people who knew (well, internet ‘knew’) them and had volunteered/donated a lot to them. The mother was ripping a lot of people off locally and through online parenting/medical groups. These people felt hurt and betrayed, and I can’t even begin to imagine how hard that poor girl’s life was. I absolutely believe she would have eventually been killed as well — I’m surprised she made it so long. She should have gotten extensive medical and psychological care, not prison.
@Sparkly:
I suggest you watch the HBO’s docummentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest”.
Hulu’s The Act actually portrayed DeeDee Blanchard in an almost sympathetic light (compared to what she really did). They glossed over certain facts and left out some others.
By th way, one thing neither the docummentary nor the series failed to mention: the reason Gypsy Blanchard’s teeth rotted out.
DeeDee Blanchard had Gypsy’s salivary glands removed.
She convinced doctors her daughter needed the surgery because she droolled non stop — which Gypsy, in fact, did.
Explanation? DeeDee Blanchard would spread some numbing cream all over Gypsy’s gums and oral mucosa some time before the consultation (so she would drool through the whole thing).
Correction:
“By the way, one thing BOTH the docummentary and the series failed to mention: the reason Gypsy Blanchard’s teeth rotted out.”
So everyone failed her, she had to fight her way out and landed in jail? She was abused, tormented and restrained against her will for over a decade – I can’t believe she’s in jail.
No one should be treated like she was with her mother, but I wouldnt trust her in person. She learned to manipulate and con people with her mother, thats all she knew for the first 20 something of years of her life. I don’t know she just always gave me the creeps, does she even know empathy or know how to creat healthy relationships? Hopefully she is recieving adequete therapy to learn these things, because I doubt she learned any of that with that monster of her mother.
I’m really torn about Gypsy. Her mother was a monster and Gypsy suffered horribly. But her lack of empathy is disturbing. Her childhood is like a road map to creating a sociopath. Having said that, there are a certain percentage of the population who are psychopaths and sociopaths, and only a few of them kill. They do take their toll on people in other ways, of course.
@AryasMum It’s perfecty natural to feel empathy towards her and and what she went through, considering the type of abuse she had to endure. Honestly, we probably would have done the same things if we were in her shoes? But let’s not forget she was raised a certain way, unfortunately. She was able to eassily manipulate someone to do the work she couldn’t do and she knew how to live a double life, with the secret facebooks and sneaking away. Again, understandable, that she wouldn’t know empathy and only only knows manipulation, she was not nutured at all growing up and only learned to manipulate, tell lies and con people .There just seems to be an underline current about in her interviews in the documentary she did a while back always gave me the creeps , again I hope she is recieving adequete therapy.
The part that creeps me out is her police interview, and how she seemed to slowly drop the child-like act as it progressed.
Yes that momment between her and the cops is very telling, not to mention very creepy. Her own family admits that she wasn’t telling all the truth in the begining and she even admits herself she hasnt admited to some things. A family member says he wouldn’t even fully trust her, a sad situation all around.
I read that one of the psychologists who talked to her said she had sociopathic manipulative tendencies like her mother. Her mother basically taught her to lie and manipulate people. The doctor said she’d need lifelong intensive therapy to break those patterns. I hope she’s getting it too.
It she does have sociopathatic tendencies I’m sure they are helping and giving tolls she can use for the outside world, I just wouldnt exactly trust her due to knowing and being raised by abuse, lack empathy, manipulation and a life of cons, it would be hard to break those habites which her ‘mother’ instilled in her for a very long time.
How could anyone convict this girl? I’m hoping for an early release. Hasn’t she suffered enough?
The Act is excellent. The acting by Patricia Arquette & Joey King is award worthy. I’m so mad that Gypsy was convicted & sent to prison rather than receive help at a mental institution or something.
Idk that prison will get her the therapy she needs but she was definitely a victim that was failed by many.
I hope she is getting therapy because all she knows is lies, deception and now murder- even as an accessory not actual murderer…very sad
The whole system failed this woman
so mummy dearest abused her child psychologically and socially and the result was that the child was ill-educated and ill-equipped to handle the situation legally correct (asking somebody for help) and then the child mustered up some guts and freed herself by killing her motherand that is what got her 10 years in prison?
wrong person got jailed here