Twisted ways Gypsy Rose Blanchard's mum 'manipulated' her to think she was sick
Gypsy Rose Blanchard is set to walk free today after nearly eight years behind bars for the killing of her medically abusive mother.
Colluding with then-boyfriend Nick Godejohn, Gypsy Rose planned the murder of her mother Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard - after she had forced her daughter to live as if she had several severe diseases for her entire life. At the murder trial, it was argued Gypsy Rose was a victim of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy suffered by her mother, wherein a parent or guardian exaggerates or fabricates their child’s illnesses for attention or sympathy.
In June 2015, Gypsy Rose convinced Godejohn to kill her mother, letting him into the house and hiding in the bathroom as he carried it out. She has now shared how Dee Dee managed to successfully manipulate her, her family, and the authorities into believing she had a number of severe health disorders - adding that she “regrets” killing her mother every day.
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Dee Dee was killed in June 2015 by Nick Godejohn, colluding with Gypsy Rose (Crime+Investigation)The illnesses
Gypsy Rose says that she was being forced into an unnecessary surgery - adding to a long list of previous surgeries - at the time of Dee Dee’s murder. She claims she was “desperate to get out of that situation”, and it was this desperation which led her to ask Godejohn to kill her mother. He did so by stabbing her multiple times as she slept in her bed while Gypsy Rose, who had let him in the house, hid in the bathroom in Springfield, Missouri.
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Dee Dee’s false claims started early in Gypsy Rose’s life, with the young girl allegedly suffering numerous illnesses by the time she was seven. Gypsy Rose was forced to use a wheelchair because Dee Dee claimed for so long she had muscular dystrophy even though she could walk without a problem.
Nick Godejohn (left) has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of paroleThe girl was also forced to use feeding tubes, which she didn’t need, and even at one point was told by her mother she had leukaemia - having her hair shaved off as a result. It was a hugely confusing time for Gypsy Rose: “Obviously I knew that I could walk and didn't need a feeding tube, but everything else was a really big confusion for me,” she told . Her epilepsy diagnosis was a good example: “Whenever I'd question it my mother would say I'd had a seizure the night before and didn't remember. There was always an excuse.”
The manipulation: family, doctors and the authorities
The first step for Dee Dee in hiding the truth of her daughter’s health from those around her was isolation. Gypsy Rose was never sent to school and barely had a relationship with her father Rod, stepmother Christie and her half siblings. “I was very sheltered,” she explained. “I was limited in what I could watch and the exposure I had to other kids. What I knew of the outside world was only in Disney movies and those don't talk about warning signs of bad parents.”
Next, Dee Dee had to convince Gypsy Rose herself - which wasn’t always too difficult given her age. “The doctors seem to confirm everything that you’re being told. The outside world is telling you that your mother is a wonderful, loving, caring person. What other idea can you have?” her trial attorney Michael Stanfield said in court in 2016.
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Gypsy Rose is set to be released today (December 28) after seven-and-a-half years in prison (Crime+Investigation)When Gypsy Rose did have suspicions, Dee Dee would begin her manipulation. "I would voice concerns, being like, 'I really don't feel like I need this,' and she would get really, really upset with me and start manipulating me," Gypsy recalled. "She'd say 'If you do well at the hospital then we're going to Toys 'R' Us to buy a new Barbie.'"
Then would come the physical and verbal abuse. Gypsy Rose says Dee Dee would call her things like “b*tch”, “wh*re” and “sl*t” when she was rebelling as she grew a bit older. She would even start “hitting, punching, slapping” Gypsy Rose - "It was very similar to a domestic violence type of relationship”, she recalls.
But the most difficult part was manipulating doctors, family, and even charities. Dee Dee would sometimes say her daughter’s medical records had been lost in Hurricane Katrina, duping doctors into believing her wild claims. And if any of them asked too many questions or appeared to be particularly suspicious, Dee Dee would leave to find a new physician.
Gypsy Rose married her new husband, Ryan, in summer of 2022 (Crime+Investigation)The abusive mother would even shave Gypsy Rose’s head to support the story in front of doctors and prompt them into putting her through unnecessary procedures. She would sometimes go to extreme lengths: in order to get the doctors to remove Gypsy Rose’s salivary glands, she gave her daughter topical anaesthetic to cause drooling.
With Dee Dee putting forward the image of a brilliant mother looking after her daughter with several severe ailments, charitable organisations would begin showing interest in an ostensibly heartwarming story of a loving mother-daughter relationship. They received charitable donations including a trip to Disney World, a meet-up with country star Miranda Lambert, and were even given a home near Springfield from Habitat for Humanity.
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But despite the levels of abuse, Gypsy Rose is not remotely proud of having killed her mother. "If I had another chance to redo everything, I don't know if I would go back to when I was a child and tell my aunts and uncles that I'm not sick and mommy makes me sick,” she said. "Or, if I would travel back to just the point of that conversation with Nick and tell him, 'You know what, I'm going to go tell the police everything.' I kind of struggle with that. Nobody will ever hear me say I'm glad she's dead or I'm proud of what I did. I regret it every single day."
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