Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s name first rose to prominence in 2016 when she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. On Dec. 28, 2023, a little over eight years later, she was released from Chillicothe Correctional Center in Chillicothe, Missouri — free for the first time since she was born.
For the majority of her life, Gypsy Rose Blanchard was told she was sick. As early as age 8, her mother claimed that she had leukemia and muscular dystrophy, requiring her to stay in a wheelchair at all times. Dee Dee Blanchard would continually take her to various specialists, acquiring feeding tubes, oxygen tanks and various prescriptions for seizure medication. None of these medical measures were needed — often, they served to hurt Gypsy Rose Blanchard more than they helped her. In her teenage years, she underwent surgery to remove rotting teeth, the result of an unnecessary procedure her mother made her go through to completely remove her salivary glands. As time passed, Dee Dee Blanchard continued to make up various, and often conflicting, illnesses for her daughter to have, hoping to garner more media attention.
There was no shortage of attention, much to Dee Dee Blanchard’s delight. Gypsy Rose Blanchard met singer Michelle Lambert through Make-A-Wish, received a free trip to Disney World and was given a bright pink house from Habitat for Humanity — complete with a wheelchair ramp. Some theorize that these gifts were the reason Dee DeeBlanchard kept up the act, while other experts say that her actions were motivated by a syndrome called Munchausen’s by proxy. Munchausen’s by proxy is a mental illness associated with obsessive caregiving, often going so far as to intentionally hurt the ones you are treating so as to have problems to solve. The motivation for many people suffering from this disorder is attention and pity — both of which were provided constantly to Dee Dee Blanchard as her daughter continued to grow up.
As Gypsy Rose Blanchard grew older, she began to realize that what her mother was doing was wrong. Her first unsuccessful effort to leave came in 2011 when she attempted to escape during the middle of the night and take cover at the house of a man she met online. Dee Dee Blanchard soon found where Gypsy Rose Blanchard had fled to and berated the man for taking her in, convincing him she was still a minor. In reality, Gypsy Rose was 19 at the time of this event, but due to an altered birth certificate made by Dee Dee Blanchard, he believed her and let Gypsy Rose Blanchard go. For two weeks after they returned home, Gypsy Rose Blanchard reported that her mother chained her to the bed at night and often denied her food. Later, in October 2012, Gypsy Rose Blanchard secretly gained access to an online Christian dating site, where she formed a relationship with Nicholas Godejohn, whom at that time had already been arrested for indecent exposure and had struggled with a series of mental health issues. After many years of quiet correspondence, Gypsy Rose Blanchard asked Godejohn to visit her house and kill her mother for her. Godejohn agreed, and on June 14, 2015, he used a knife that she had mailed him to take Dee Dee’s life. After they left together, Gypsy Rose Blanchard then updated her mother’s Facebook status. She didn’t mince words, choosing a chilling, singular sentence that would go on to become an infamous quote in the following months: “That b**** is dead!”
Gypsy Rose Blanchard eventually pled guilty to second-degree murder in accordance with a plea deal that would see her serving just 10 years in prison. Godejohn was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility for parole and continues to serve out his sentence today. In an episode of Oxygen True Crime’s “Killer Couples,” labeled “Gypsy Rose & Nick: A Love to Kill For,” Godejohn stated that he views the week he spent with Gypsy Rose as the best days of his life and that he would have committed the murder again, if given the chance.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard only ended up serving eight of the 10 years of her sentence. Upon her return to society, she was met with immediate attention from news channels and users of social media. Her Instagram gained nearly 3 million followers in the weeks after her release and was filled with comments of support and praise from those who were happy to see her out of prison.Currently, Gypsy Rose Blanchard is living with her husband, whom she met while incarcerated, and is currently promoting her autobiography, “Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom.” She said she plans to live a healthy and safe life with her family and to be an advocate for others who have suffered from abuse.