Gypsy Rose Blanchard Is Going To Be Released From Prison In A Week
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The true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard is stranger than fiction, which might explain why everyone is totally keyed in any time her name makes headlines. This year, Gypsy is set to be released from prison, so naturally, people have a lot of questions about what has happened in the five years since her story was turned into a miniseries.
Yep, Gypsy Rose's story was so bizarre that it was made into a Hulu series, The Act, which premiered back in March of 2019. The show was nominated for a slew of awards, and even won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for its retelling of Gypsy Rose Blanchard's unique story.
The show starred "The Kissing Booth's" Joey King as Gypsy, and "Boyhood's" Patricia Arquette as her mom Dee Dee, who was murdered by Gypsy’s boyfriend in 2015, after years of physically and mentally abusing Gypsy. But the series only scratches the surface of the true story behind Gypsy's life and crime.
Curious to know more about the true story behind what happened to Gypsy and where she is now in 2023? Well, eight years later, there's a lot of updates on Gypsy Rose's life, her prison sentence, and release. Here's what you need to know:
Dee Dee started lying about Gypsy’s health when she was a baby.
Dee Dee had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a condition that causes people to make up or induce illnesses in people they care for, like a child or elderly parent, in order to get sympathy and attention. Dee Dee told people that Gypsy had leukemia, asthma, muscular dystrophy, seizures, brain damage and learning disabilities.
She forced her to use a wheelchair and feeding tube when she needed neither. Dee Dee lied about Gypsy’s symptoms, leading to unnecessary surgeries and medication. She home-schooled her because she said Gypsy couldn’t keep up in regular school. No one knew that Gypsy was actually a healthy child.
Dee Dee profited off of Gypsy’s fake illnesses.
As a single mom raising an extremely ill child, Dee Dee got a lot of sympathy. The family received donations and free trips regularly from organizations like Make-A-Wish and Ronald McDonald House. The trailer for "The Act" hints at this.
Habitat for Humanity provided Dee Dee and Gypsy with a house (complete with a wheelchair ramp and hot tub for Gypsy’s muscle pain) when they lost theirs during Hurricane Katrina. That’s when the family moved from Louisiana to Springfield, Missouri, where they stayed until Dee Dee’s murder.
Gypsy discovered that her health issues were a lie, but felt she couldn’t escape her mom.
As Gypsy got older and realized what her mother was doing, she tried to fight back. When she wouldn’t use her walking aids, Dee Dee would beat her.
In a 20/20 interview from 2019, she said she tried to escape, only to be chained to her bed. Her mom would never leave her side, and Gypsy felt she had to go along with the lies. Late at night, when Dee Dee was asleep, she would escape online and eventually met a boyfriend on the site ChristianSingles.com, Nick Godejohn.
Gypsy confided in Nick Godejohn, and they made a plan to kill Dee Dee.
Gypsy told Nick about what her mom was doing and how she wanted to get away, and Nick was willing to murder Dee Dee to make that happen. In 2015, when Gypsy was 23, Nick stabbed Dee Dee to death in their Springfield home. He and Gypsy then fled to Wisconsin, where Nick lived. Dee Dee was found dead days later after a series a strange Facebook messages appeared on her page that caused police to investigate. At first, it was thought that Gypsy had been kidnapped, but when police found her with Nick, they were shocked to see she wanted to be there—and she was healthy.
Gypsy went to prison.
In 2015, both Gypsy and Nick were arrested—and in 2016, Gypsy was sentenced to 10 years at Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, per People.
Nick was convicted of first-degree murder in November 2018, and sentenced to life in prison without parole in February 2019, according to E! News. Gypsy became eligible for parole in 2023. She previously opened up about the fact that she felt she didn't deserve a 10-year sentence, but understood that her involvement in the murder was still wrong, which you can see in the Dr. Phil clip below.
Gypsy was nearly unrecognizable from the time she was living with Dee Dee.
She’s being released from prison.
In September 2023, Gypsy, 32, was granted parole by the Missouri Department of Corrections, per Ozark First. Her release date is set for December 28, 2023, which is just a week away. She served eight years of her original 10-year sentence, or 85 percent of her total sentence. Often, once violent offenders have served at least 85 percent of their sentence, they become eligible for parole, according to the Bureau of Justice.
She got married in prison.
At the start of 2019, Gypsy, who was 27 at the time, met a man named Ken through a pen pal program and they began sending letters back and forth. In April of that same year, the two got engaged, per In Touch.
However, the engagement didn’t last long, and the two called it off in August, just four months before they were set to walk down the aisle, Gypsy’s stepmother, Kristy Blanchard shared with In Touch.
On June 27, 2022, 30-year-old Gypsy married another man named Ryan Scott Anderson, 36, per Springfield News-Leader. The Livingston County Recorder of Deeds confirmed the marriage at the time. And it appears the couple is still married, because in April 2023, she wrote an email to former Bachelorette star Josh Seiter after he sent her a "flirtatious email," saying that she was married, according to InTouch.
Gypsy accused Seiter of attempting to find his “15 minutes of fame,” and said “I am a married woman, my husband’s name is Ryan Anderson and we do NOT appreciate crazy people like you spreading lies," InTouch reported.
You can learn more about Gypsy's story in the vast array of shows and movies that have come out about her life since her story made the news, including the 2017 HBO documentary, Mommy Dead and Dearest, and The Idol on Hulu.
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