Gypsy Rose Blanchard Is Now Free From Prison, And She Has A Lot To Say
Content warning: Discussion of murder and child abuse.
After over seven years in prison, Gypsy Rose Blanchard will walk free on Thursday, Dec. 28.
Back in June 2015, Gypsy Rose and her then-boyfriend, Nicholas "Nick" Godejohn, conspired to kill her mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard.
If you remember, Gypsy was a famed victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which, according to the UK's National Health Service, is "a psychological condition where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of illness in themselves" or, in this case, another person.
Gypsy claimed she was physically and mentally abused and subjected to unnecessary medical procedures for years by her mother, which led her to ask Nick to kill Dee Dee.
By the time Gypsy was 7, Dee Dee had claimed that her daughter suffered from illnesses like muscular dystrophy and leukemia. Dee Dee shaved her daughter's head, placed her in a wheelchair, and had doctors unnecessarily insert feeding tubes into Gypsy.
The story was later told in greater detail in the 2017 HBO documentary film Mommy Dead and Dearest and adapted for the 2019 Hulu series The Act, starring Joey King and Patricia Arquette.
Now, in an interview with People magazine a day before her release, Gypsy reflected on her experience and the crime that changed her life forever.
"If I had another chance to redo everything, I don't know if I would go back to when I was a child and tell my aunts and uncles that I'm not sick and Mommy makes me sick," Gypsy said, "or if I would travel back to just the point of that conversation with Nick and tell him, 'You know what? I'm going to go tell the police everything.' I kind of struggle with that."
Gypsy Rose regrets the choices she made that led to her mother's death. "Nobody will ever hear me say I'm glad she's dead or I'm proud of what I did. I regret it every single day," she added.
In 2015, Gypsy convinced Nick to kill her mother after she believed she had no other option and the relationship with her mother had turned violent. "I just wasn't having it," Gypsy said, who claimed she once tried to run away from home. "She found me, brought me back, and put in place paperwork saying I was incompetent and she had power of attorney over me."
Gypsy said, "I was trying really hard to figure out another way."
"She didn't deserve that," she continued. "She was a sick woman, and unfortunately, I wasn't educated enough to see that. She deserved to be where I am, sitting in prison doing time for criminal behavior."
In September, Gypsy was granted parole two years before the end of her 10-year sentence for second-degree murder. Nick will remain in prison with a life sentence for the murder.
Her story is set to continue in a Lifetime docuseries, The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, in which doctors and family members will share their perspectives on the tragic events that led to the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard.
While it's harrowing to see social media reactions to her release treated as a joke, it appears that Gypsy plans to use her unfortunate fame as a cautionary tale. "I want to make sure that people in abusive relationships do not resort to murder," Gypsy said. "It may seem like every avenue is closed off, but there is always another way. Do anything, but don't take this course of action."
The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard premieres Jan. 5 on Lifetime.
Read the full interview here.
If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-2253 (4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.
