Woman who murdered her abusive mother breaks silence with forgiveness claim
A woman who conspired to have her abusive mother killed has spoken of her regret after being freed from jail and how she also forgives both her mum and herself.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 32, suffered for years at the hands of Dee Dee, who had psychological disorder Munchausen syndrome by proxy – in which someone seeks attention by faking illness in a child in their care.
Gypsy was subjected to 30 unnecessary operations, including the removal of her saliva glands and insertion of a feeding tube, and was forced to pose as a wheelchair-bound invalid with muscular dystrophy and leukaemia.
In June 2015, she plotted with her boyfriend to kill her mother – hiding in the bathroom as Nicholas Godejohn stabbed Dee Dee, 49, 17 times at their home in Missouri, US.
Gypsy was jailed for second-degree murder in a case that shocked the world. Freed 10 days ago, after eight-and-a-half years of a 10-year sentence, she now finds herself in one of the world’s biggest TV shows as a documentary explores her story.
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Gypsy and Dee Dee (Crime+Investigation)And in her only UK interview since leaving jail, she tells of making her peace with Dee Dee, how prison has made her a better person and her plans to renew her vows with teacher Ryan Scott Anderson, 37, whom she married in jail.
Gypsy says: “I regret the fact I made the decision to end her life as a way out. I do think, ‘Well, what if she was here?’ I hope that she would be proud of the woman I am becoming. I now feel more sympathy towards my mother, more forgiveness and more self-forgiveness.”
Gypsy in her wheelchair (Crime+Investigation)Godejohn is serving life without parole and Gypsy, released from the Chillicothe Correctional Centre in Missouri, is the only known Munchausen syndrome by proxy victim to kill their abuser to escape the ordeal.
Dee Dee kept Gypsy out of school, altered her birth certificate to make her 15 when she was 19 and shaved her head to keep up the leukaemia lie. She now takes a real pride in her appearance, shaking her chocolate-brown hair as she says: “I didn’t even know that I had curls until after I got arrested and grew my hair. I love my hair. I’m very protective about it.”
Gypsy was subjected to 30 unnecessary operationsGypsy’s horrific childhood is the subject of six-part documentary The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, airing here on Crime +Investigation from January 15. In it, she reveals she was sexually abused as a child and Dee Dee chained her to a bed for two weeks after she fled with a boy she met online.
Gypsy shot Dee Dee with a BB gun after her mum even put a voodoo hex on her to stop her finding love. She now hopes to be a mental health advocate and protect other children vulnerable to Munchausen syndrome by proxy. She says: “I made a mistake. I made a wrong choice. I did my time. I did what the judge sentenced me to do. I bettered myself in prison. It is hard breaking out of that shell.”
With her mother Dee DeeGypsy feels badly let down by the medical profession and social services after Dee Dee claimed her records were lost. She says: “I have been told there was one doctor who put his suspicions that my mother had Munchausen syndrome by proxy in the records, however there was no follow-up. There was just crack after crack after crack that I slipped through. It’s unbelievable.
“I want to work in Munchausen syndrome by proxy advocacy. I want to be a voice when I can, because I didn’t have any reference like, ‘So and so said I’m being abused, I’m going to go for help.’” Gypsy, who has more than 12 million followers on Instagram and TikTok, and an e-book out, hopes to use all the attention for good. She says: “I don’t want to just be, ‘Hey there, I sit here and I look pretty; I went to McDonald’s yesterday and ate a cheeseburger.’ I want to make what I post and put out to the world mean something.”
'The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard'Working to unravel her harrowing past in therapy, she still grieves for Dee Dee as she gains insight on her complex feelings for her mum. She says: “It’s especially complicated knowing the abuse I suffered but loving the abuser at the same time.”
And she is also dealing with the impact of Dee Dee’s lies on others, saying: “Quite a few people have reached out to me from my past. They are still conflicted and grieving for the idea of this mother and daughter dynamic that was the sick child. They are grieving for the person they fell in love with when they met me and I am not that person. It’s such a complicated situation.”
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Partner Ryan wrote to Gypsy when she was in jail
Ryan and Gypsy live in Louisiana (Getty Images)For Gypsy, who moved from Louisiana to Springfield, Missouri with Dee Dee in the wake of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the worst abuse was being kept from seeing dad Rod Blanchard, who left when she was a baby. But she has since been warmly welcomed by him, his wife Kirsty and their daughter Mia, 22, who live in Louisiana. Gypsy says: “A bond between a father and daughter is special and I was robbed of that.”
She swapped make-up tips with Mia at a family party after her release and says: “She’s amazing. I love her so much.” Gypsy is equally enthusiastic about the supportive family of Ryan, who started writing to her in jail in 2019. They were denied guests at their July 2022 wedding, so now Gypsy hopes to re-stage the ceremony and feel like a Disney princess.
A scene from 'The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard' (Crime+Investigation)She has moved into Ryan’s apartment in southern Louisiana and is enjoying intimacy with him for the first time, as conjugal visits were banned in jail. She says: “I was very vulnerable. I told him, ‘I have not had good sexual experiences in my life.’ The first time Ryan and I were intimate I felt safe, I felt lovable, like I was in a good, loving relationship that I never thought existed. I always thought because of the sexual abuse I had gone through, I would never want to be touched, or hugged, or anything. I am establishing my comfortability in intimacy.”
And while Gypsy has loved every moment of being free she says prison was a productive, positive experience. “I don’t see myself as a murderer. I committed a crime but that doesn’t define who I am. I accept what I’ve done. I paid my dues. Now, it’s about reshaping myself as a person.”
- The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard starts January 15 at 9pm on Crime+Investigation, or stream the series from January 16 on Crime+Investigation PLAY
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