Gypsy Rose Blanchard's Husband Reveals Why He Initially Wrote to Her in Prison (Exclusive)
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Ryan Anderson married Gypsy Rose Blanchard when she was in prison
Courtesy ABC News; TheImageDirect.com
Gypsy Rose Blanchard and husband Ryan AndersonGypsy Rose Blanchard met and married Ryan Anderson while serving time in prison for conspiring to murder her abusive mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard. Anderson is now looking back on what — and who — sparked their present-day romance.
During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE ahead of 32-year-old Blanchard’s prison release on Dec. 28, 2023, Anderson shared he first wrote to Blanchard in prison as part of a conversation with his hospital co-worker who became interested in writing to Tiger King subject Joseph Allen Maldonado, aka "Joe Exotic," in 2020.
“Tiger King was really popular at the time," said Anderson of the hit Netflix show about Maldonado, a wildlife businessman and convicted felon. “I said, 'I'll tell you what, if you write him, I'll write Gypsy Rose Blanchard. I never thought she'd be my wife.”
Anderson, a 37-year-old special education teacher from Louisiana, shared that while he had watched HBO's 2017 film Mommy Dead and Dearest, a documentary based on Gypsy’s ordeal, he made sure to watch Hulu's 2019 series The Act, and referenced the show’s ending in his letter.
In the letter, “I remember telling her what her story meant to me, and on the second page I just let her have it,” said Anderson, "I told her everything about me.” As for why she chose to respond: "She told me the main reason was probably because I was from Louisiana [Gypsy's original home state]," he said while laughing. “So I credit that as being the most important thing.”
By May 2020, the pair was exchanging back-and-forth emails and finally met in June 2021. About a year later, the pair tied the knot in a small prison ceremony on July 21, 2022 at the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri, where the victim of Munchausen by proxy ultimately served more than eight years.
She previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016 for conspiring with her then-boyfriend, Nicholas "Nick" Godejohn, to kill her mom, who mentally and physically abused Gypsy throughout her entire life.
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Godejohn, who carried out the killing, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the June 2015 death of Blanchard's mother. He was also found guilty of armed criminal action. In 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus an additional 25 years for armed criminal action.
Meanwhile, Blanchard and Anderson are excited about married life after prison and are learning to adjust to being in the spotlight.
TheImageDirect.com
Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her husband Ryan Anderson in New York City on Jan. 6, 2024.
"Now it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, you’re in the public eye now — go out there and experience it,’” Anderson told PEOPLE in December 2023. “But we’ve decided that every night, we’re going to lay in bed, we’re going to talk to each other and check on each other and see how we’re doing, because it is going to be crazy for a minute.”
Ahead of her prison release, Blanchard also shared her deep feelings for husband, telling PEOPLE of Anderson, "We’re in love."
The couple is also planning on having a second wedding where guests could attend, unlike their prison ceremony.
“We do plan on having a reception/redo wedding with all of our family and our friends and the dress and the cake and everything because we deserve that,” Blanchard told PEOPLE last December. “I deserve that. He deserves that.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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