Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a woman who has grown to be well-known and thoroughly discussed over the years for being involved with criminal conspiracy regarding the murder of her abusive mother, has been released in December of 2023 after serving 8 years in prison. Her recent release is a topic of discussion due to the popularity her case gained over the years, most recently and notably from the 2019 Hulu series called The Act. This series was a telling of Gypsy’s life leading up to and including her arrest, and also provided insight on her mother’s behavior. The show gained popularity in part due to the casting, but also because of its dramatization of events and fictionalization of characters, which was made clear to audiences with a black, captioned screen at the end of every episode. However, people online still misunderstand certain details from the show as being true.
Blanchard was raised believing that she suffered from multiple conditions on the account of her mother medically abusing her, assumingly for money from charities and resources from foundations. Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard convinced many people, including those in her own communities and medical professionals, that her daughter needed a wheelchair, and that she was two to four years younger than she actually was, had multiple life-threatening conditions, and claimed that Gypsy had a mental age of seven-years-old. She is now regarded for her behavioral pattern consistent with Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another, FDIA is a form of child abuse characterized by a caretaker, usually a mother, acting as though their child has a medical condition that they do not have, which can lead to deception and unnecessary procedures and treatments. This behavior is often caused by a maladaptive disorder or attention-seeking. Due to Dee Dee’s list of medical issues relating to Gypsy, her daughter was believed to have seizures, asthma, and hearing and visual impairments. Because of this, Gypsy was forced to take a variety of medications, sleep with a breathing machine, and have a feeding tube. She endured multiple surgeries, including ones on her eyes and the removal of her salivary glands. Sometime between the ages of 19 and 20, in 2012, Gypsy formed a relationship with Nick Godejohn over a Christian dating site online, and the couple planned to kill Dee Dee in order to be together. In June of 2015, Godejohn came to Gypsy’s house and murdered her mother.
An expert on FDIA, Dr. Marc Feldman, in reference to Gypsy and her life, said, “The control was total in the same sense that the control of a kidnapped victim sometimes is total. Her daughter was a hostage, and I think we can understand the crime that occurred subsequently in terms of a hostage trying to gain escape.”
Controversy on social media has spiked with Gypsy’s release from prison due to opposing opinions regarding people supporting her and of her having a platform online. Anticipating her release, many creators online attempted to encourage their audiences to avoid idolization of Blanchard, though there are already various fan accounts and dramatic discussion of her presence online. However, Blanchard oversees the attention well, and there does not yet appear to be a negative impact on her life of freedom due to the people online who choose to create a narrative about Gypsy’s life based on their recollection from the show on Hulu or videos on social media.
To form an opinion about Gypsy’s release from prison, it would be helpful to listen to her account of the events with interviews she has participated in. Blanchard has also recently published an e-book called Released, which is the true recollection of her experiences, and it serves to disprove falsities in the media so that she can tell her story authentically.
