Here's Why Gypsy Rose Blanchard Took A Break From Social Media
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Gypsy Rose Blanchard is adjusting to her freedom. The 32-year-old was released from prison at the end of last year, and is set to reflect on her last six months in a new Lifetime docuseries Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup.
If you’re not familiar with Gypsy Rose’s story, it 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 Act starred Joey King as Gypsy and 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 scratched 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 are 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 was released from prison.
In September 2023, Gypsy, 32, was granted parole by the Missouri Department of Corrections, per Ozark First. She served over eight years of her original 10-year sentence and was released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center at 3:30 a.m. on December 28, per ABC.
"I'm ready for freedom," Gypsy told People just hours before her early release. "I'm ready to expand, and I think that goes for every facet of my life."
She got married in prison.
At the start of 2019, Gypsy, who was 27 at the time, met a man named Ken Urker 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 Josh 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.
Gypsy Rose filed for divorce in April 2024.
Gypsy famously came out of prison riding for her new man Ryan, even taking a shot at online haters with an Instagram caption heard 'round the world. "You are rocking my world every night…yeah, I said it, the D is fire," she wrote in a since-deleted post. "Happy wife happy life."
However, their marriage was short-lived, as Gypsy filed for divorce in April 2024. “It’s heartbreaking, because no one gets married to get a divorce," Gypsy told People a month later. "Processing those emotions has been hard."
While Gypsy didn’t share the details that led to the split, a friend previously shared with the outlet that Gypsy left Ryan following a bad argument between in March, where Gypsy found him controlling. Ryan has denied this, according to People.
Ultimately, Gypsy wishes she had waited a bit before making the marriage official. "I don’t regret the relationship with Ryan, but I do regret getting married in prison so fast," Gypsy told ET in May. "Living with someone is so much different... now, in hindsight, I understand where [people] were coming from."
She is currently dating her ex-fiancé Ken.
After filing for divorce from Ryan, Gypsy rekindled things with her ex-fiancé Ken, whom she is currently dating.
"When my marriage was over... Ken and I were developing a reconnection," she shared with ET.
When the pair met up in late April, Gypsy said the path forward was clear. "I've always loved you, you've always loved me... so let's just be happy," Gypsy recounted saying during their pivotal reunion.
Ken will also appear in the docuseries. "Our energy on-camera... you can see the connection, you can see the love, it's very obvious," she explained.
She’s undergone a series of cosmetic procedures.
Since Gypsy was released from prison in December 2023, she's opted for a number of cosmetic changes, including dyeing her hair blonde, getting dental work, and undergoing a rhinoplasty.
“I’m going through a personal transformation journey currently, and that includes a physical one, too,” she told People in April.
She later told ABC that she "wanted to do it for myself, my self-esteem, [and] what would make me feel beautiful about myself."
And her nose isn't the only thing that's changed. Gypsy got porcelain caps to replace the silver teeth she’s had for many years, per TMZ. (Several of her teeth and salivary glands were removed by Dee Dee, who falsely claimed that Gypsy had tooth decay.)
She’s wrestling with her life in the limelight.
As one might imagine, going from prison to a psuedo-influencer has been shocking for Gypsy. She began a TikTok account and quickly amassed nearly 10 million followers, which surprised even herself.
“With social media is concerned, I think that I wanted to be like everyone else—and have that right of freedom to have social media and interact with my friends online,” she told ABC.
Subsequently, Gypsy took a break from being online, adding that she only recently started using social media again and doesn’t read the comments. “I’m just trying to live my life in the best way that I can,” she said. “That’s going to include missteps, but I learned from them.”
She also has struggled with the public’s reaction to her, sharing that most of the public seems to want her to be the “perfect victim.”
“There is no such thing as a perfect victim," she shared. "In their mind, the perfect victim would've died. And so now that I survived and the perpetrator of the abuse is the one that died, then I'm getting the hate.”
Gypsy continues to advocate for others who may be dealing with an abusive and mentally ill parent, even meeting with Kim Kardashian to discuss prison reform.
"First of all, meeting Kim was a huge honor," Gypsy told E! News “We had a lot to talk about as far as prison reform goes," she continued. "I know that she's done some really amazing things with prison reform. And that's really close to my heart because I've been on that side of the fence.”
Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up will premiere on June 3 at 9 p.m. on Lifetime.
You Might Also Like
