Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 32, has been released from prison after more than seven years. Blanchard was granted early release after serving 85% of her 10-year second-degree murder sentence for her part in the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.
After the death of Dee Dee, it was revealed that she had been suffering from Munchausen by proxy, a form of child abuse in which the perpetrator “makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick.” Throughout her childhood, Gypsy was told by her mother that she was ill and disabled with conditions from leukemia to muscular dystrophy. She was made to use a wheelchair though she was capable of walking and forced to take medications she didn’t require. Even as a teenager, Dee Dee told Gypsy and others that Gypsy only had the mental capacity of a child. People reports that Gypsy “claimed her mother wouldn’t allow her to speak during doctor visits and told her that if she ever tried to escape, police wouldn’t believe her story.” Gypsy’s then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, was charged with first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence and the sensational story has been immortalized in pop culture, from HBO’s Mommy Dead and Dearest to Hulu’s The Act.
Despite the abuse, Gypsy told People she regrets her mother’s murder: “No one will ever hear me say I’m proud of what I did or I’m glad that she’s dead. I’m not proud of what I did. I regret it every single day.”
