Let’s take a deeper look.
Gypsy Rose was found guilty of killing her mother Dee Dee Blanchard in 2018. Dee Dee was found dead at their home in 2015 and Gypsy Rose was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison.
She’s been in the headlines recently because there is a possibility she’ll be released from prison this year.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard grew up with her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, making claims about her health that resulted in a series of diagnoses and medical interventions. However, Gypsy wasn’t actually unwell. Her mother was lying about her symptoms all along.
When Gypsy was a baby, Dee Dee claimed she had sleep apnea. When she was eight years old, her mum said she was suffering from leukemia and muscular dystrophy. She even went as far as getting her a wheelchair and a feeding tube.
Experts believe Dee Dee’s behaviour stemmed from the mental disorder, Munchausen syndrome by proxy. She wanted to be a caretaker so she fabricated and induced illnesses onto her daughter.
Gypsy was prescribed a variety of medications and had to sleep using a breathing machine.
She went through multiple surgeries, including procedures on her eyes and the removal of her salivary glands.
Her teeth rotted, maybe it was because of her medications, missing salivary glands, or neglect, but when they did, they were pulled out.
Gypsy arranged her mother’s murder.
Nobody suspected Dee Dee was lying about her daughter’s illnesses because she portrayed herself as a loving devoted mum.
However, the truth about the mother-daughter relationship was revealed after Gypsy Rose arranged for an online boyfriend to murder Dee Dee.
In 2011, Gypsy tried to get away from her mother by running away with a man but Dee Dee tracked them down via mutual friends.
Dee convinced the man that Gypsy was a minor at the time although she was 19. When they returned home, the teenager said her mum would hit her, tie her to her bed and deny her food.
Gypsy eventually managed to get back online and she joined a Christian dating site where she met Nicholas Godejohn.
She told him the truth about her mother’s actions and ended up asking him to kill Dee Dee so they could be together.
So, in June 2015, everything came to a head and Nicholas arrived at the house. He stabbed Dee Dee while Gypsy waited in the bathroom with her ears covered.
Gypsy and Godejohn returned to his home in Wisconsin, where they were later found by the police.
While they were in hiding, Gypsy posted to the Facebook account she shared with her mother, once writing, “That b***h is dead!”
She later told police that she made the posts because she wanted her mother’s body to be found.
After Dee Dee’s murder, many people who’d known Gypsy wondered why she had gone so far as to kill her.
Gypsy said: “I couldn’t just jump out of the wheelchair because I was afraid and I didn’t know what my mother would do. I didn’t have anyone to trust.”
Gypsy spent her life being controlled by her mum
She couldn’t go to school even though she was of average intelligence because her mum said she had the mental age of a seven-year-old.
An expert in Munchausen syndrome by proxy said: “The control was total in the same sense that the control of a kidnapped victim sometimes is total.
“Her daughter was, in essence, a hostage, and I think we can understand the crime that occurred subsequently in terms of a hostage trying to gain escape.”
Gypsy pled guilty to second-degree murder in 2016 after her lawyer negotiated a plea deal.
She was sentenced to 10 years in prison, though she may be eligible for parole this year.
Her boyfriend, Godejohn, was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2018 and he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.
Today, Gypsy is healthy.
She said she enjoys more freedom in prison than she did in the life she shared with her mother.
When asked by Dr. Phil if she was glad her mother was dead, she said: “I’m glad that I’m out of that situation, but I’m not happy she’s dead.”
