GYPSY Rose Blanchard was released from prison after serving eight years of a 10-year sentence for her role in the murder of her mom, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
Gypsy Rose and her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn were imprisoned over her mother Dee Dee’s homicide.
2
Early life
Born on May 3, 1967, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Pitre-Blanchard was a mother of one from Chackbay, Louisiana.
Dee Dee was one of five children to parents Claude Pitre and Emma Gisclair.
She met Rod Blanchard at a bowling alley when she was 23 and he was just 17.
The pair were married on December 27, 1990, when they discovered Dee Dee was pregnant.
Read More on Dee Dee and Gypsy
They welcomed their daughter Gypsy Rose on July 27, 1991.
Although she was never formally diagnosed, police and medical professionals believe Dee Dee suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a factitious disorder characterized by the fabrication of signs or symptoms of a disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Due to this speculated disorder, Dee Dee allegedly fabricated several health conditions she thought Gypsy suffered from.
Dee Dee deceived Gypsy and those around her into believing her daughter suffered from chronic medical conditions and put it down to her daughter being born prematurely.
According to the late matriarch, her daughter suffered from leukemia, asthma, and muscular dystrophy.
As a result, Dee Dee produced false paperwork to lie about Gypsy Rose’s age and medical history.
She also shaved her daughter’s head, altered her appearance, regulated unnecessary prescription doses and consented to needless surgeries.
Dee Dee forged copies of Gypsy-Rose’s birth certificate, changing her birthdate to 1995 to bolster claims that she was still a teenager.
Gypsy-Rose said in a later interview that for 14 years, she was unsure of her real age.
Gypsy revealed: “It was about a good span of time between, I want to say, 2001 to 2015, that I really wasn’t sure of my age.”
Allegedly Dee Dee frequently ripped off charitable organizations to fly her and her daughter across the country to concerts, celebrity meet-and-greets, galas, and even to Disney World with all expenses paid.
What is Munchausen by proxy?
MUNCHAUSEN syndrome by proxy is also known in the US as factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA).
It is a mental illness and a rare form of child abuse.
It is when a parent or carer exaggerates or deliberately causes symptoms of illness in a child.
Behaviours include where a carer or parent:
- persuades healthcare professionals that their child is ill when they’re healthy
- exaggerates or lies about their child’s symptoms
- manipulates test results to suggest the child is ill, for example, by putting glucose in urine samples to suggest the child has diabetes
- deliberately induces symptoms of illness, for example, by poisoning their child with unnecessary medicine or other substances
The parent or carer is not always fully aware of the reasons for their own behaviour, but some may have unresolved psychological and behavioural problems.
Munchausen’s syndrome is different to FDIA.
It s a psychological condition where someone pretends to be ill or deliberately produces symptoms of illness in themselves.
People with Munchausen syndrome can behave in a number of different ways, including:
- Pretending to have psychological symptoms – for example, claiming to hear voices or claiming to see things that are not really there
- Pretending to have physical symptoms – for example, claiming to have chest pain or a stomach ache
- Actively trying to get ill – such as deliberately infecting a wound by rubbing dirt into it
The condition is complex and poorly understood, though it’s thought it could be brought on by emotional trauma or personality disorders.
Source: NHS
According to Dee Dee’s parents and other family members, she fell out with them after they accused her of trying to poison her stepmother Laura Pitre with weed killer.
Dee Dee’s ex-husband Rod told Buzzfeed: “I think Dee Dee’s problem was she started a web of lies, and there was no escaping after.
“She got so wound up in it, it was like a tornado got started, and then once she was in so deep that there was no escaping.
“One lie had to cover another lie, had to cover another lie, and that was her way of life.”
‘Dee Dee’ Death & Deceit
On June 14, 2015, Dee Dee was found stabbed to death at her and Gypsy’s home in Springfield, Missouri.
Police discovered her body when her neighbours alerted authorities about violent and graphic Facebook posts found on Dee Dee’s profile.
On Tuesday, June 16, 2015, Gypsy and her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn were arrested in connection to her mother’s homicide.
On July 5, 2016, Gypsy accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Dee Dee.
She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
2
On November 16, 2018, Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
He was sentenced to life in prison.
While in prison, Gypsy Rose married Ryan Scott Anderson on July 21, 2022.
On December 28, 2023, Gypsy Rose was released from Chillicothe Correctional Center after she was granted parole in September.
Freedom
Since her release, Gypsy Rose has been open to sharing her story.
On January, 2024, she started her own YouTube channel and created a TikTok page which quickly gained over 10 million followers
In March 2024, Gypsy Rose announced her split from husband Ryan Scott Anderson on Facebook.
On June 3, 2024 Prime released a documentary called Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup which features her life as a free woman.
Other TV appearances include, The Prison Confessions Of Gypsy Rose Blanchard available on Apple TV.
In July 2024, Gypsy Rose announced on her social media that she is expecting a baby girl with her boyfriend and ex-fiance, Ken Urker.
Their baby is due in January 2025.