Gypsy Rose Blanchard Speaks In First Social Media Videos Since Early Release From Prison
Gypsy Rose Blanchard is speaking out in the first videos since her release from prison.
Blanchard pleaded guilty in 2015 to the second-degree murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, and was sentenced to 10 years behind bars. Following her early release last Thursday, she posted two videos on TikTok to celebrate.
“I’m finally free,” Blanchard, 32, said in the first clip, posted Sunday. “I just wanted to send a quick video to thank everyone for the massive amount of support that I’ve been getting on social media. Everyone has been really, really nice and supportive. I really appreciate that. It’s nice to be home.”
“I’m back home in Louisiana, enjoying a beautiful day outside,” she continued. “I’ve got a lot of great things happening really soon. I’ve got my documentary series coming out, ‘The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.’ I just put out an e-book that I’m super proud of.”
Blanchard said the book won’t be “a rehashing of everything that happened,” but a “reflection” of what she has “learned and experienced” during her time at Missouri’s Chillicothe Correctional Center before she was cleared for early release in September.
Her story has already been dramatized in the 2019 Hulu series “The Act” and detailed in HBO’s 2017 documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest.”
“Happy New Year’s Eve! I’m about to celebrate with my family,” Blanchard said in another video.
“I have my dad and my stepmom Kristy here, and of course my husband,” Blanchard continued in the follow-up TikTok. “We’re looking to ring in the new year together, and it’s going to be really awesome to have some family time after so long.”
Blanchard married Louisiana teacher Ryan Scott Anderson behind bars in 2022.
For years, Blanchard’s mother foisted a litany of illnesses and conditions upon her ― including brain damage, leukemia and muscular dystrophy ― that she did not actually have. Blanchard was also made to use a wheelchair, fed unnecessary medicines, and forcibly kept indoors by her mother.
Dee Dee Blanchard was found stabbed to death in her home in Springfield, Missouri, in 2015. Gypsy Rose ultimately admitted to conspiring with her boyfriend at the time, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill her mother. Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Blanchard has found support for her early release among countless abuse victims in addition to her own family. Her stepmother, Kristy Blanchard, suggested in 2019 that Gypsy Rose would have died had things continued on the way they had been.
“Dee Dee would tell me, ‘When I die, I hope she dies with me, because one can’t live without the other,’” Kristy told In Touch Weekly. “Now thinking back, it’s like, ‘Oh my god, she would’ve ended up — She would’ve killed Gypsy. She would have.’”
Blanchard, who argued in court that she was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy — a mental illness and form of child abuse in which the caretaker fabricates illnesses to make the child appear sick — nonetheless told People last month: “I still love my mom.”
Her Lifetime documentary series, “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard,” premieres Jan. 5. Blanchard’s e-book, “Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom,” hits digital shelves Jan. 9.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
