Gypsy Rose Blanchard, played by Joey King in “The Act”, to be released from prison early after mother's murder
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Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the young woman whose life story served as the inspiration for Hulu series The Act, will reportedly be released from prison early.
Blanchard will leave the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri in December, roughly two years before the end of her original 10-year sentence. In 2016, Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for her role in the death of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, who was found dead in June 2015.
When reached for comment, the Missouri Department of Corrections communications director, Karen Pojmann, confirms to EW via email that "Gypsy Blanchard is expected to be released on parole Dec. 28."
Law&Crime Network/YouTube; Brownie Harris/Hulu/Courtesy Everett Collection Gypsy Rose Blanchard; Joey King in 'The Act'
The 32-year-old's boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, who she met on the internet, was also charged with first-degree murder in the case and sentenced to life in prison after he stabbed Dee Dee 17 times while Gypsy waited in the bathroom.
The case revealed that Dee Dee had lied for years about her daughter having a wide range of conditions, from leukemia to muscular dystrophy. Gypsy maintained that she was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a form of abuse the Cleveland Clinic describes as a "mental illness in which a person acts as if an individual he or she is caring for has a physical or mental illness when the person is not really sick."
Godejohn and Gypsy eventually separated, with Gypsy marrying Ryan Scott Anderson in June 2022.
In addition to The Act, which starred Joey King as Gypsy and Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee, Gypsy Rose's story was told in director Erin Lee Carr's 2017 HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, which probed into the case following Gypsy's sentencing.
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