Gypsy Rose Blanchard is currently serving a 10-year sentence for involvement in the first degree murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. On the late night of June 14, 2015 the body of  Dee Dee was found in a pool of her own blood in one of her bedrooms, no longer breathing. The police thought that Gypsy had been kidnapped as her wheelchair and medications were missing. A few days later, Gypsy was found in Wisconsin along with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, and the police reported that, “things are not always as they appear.”

When Gypsy was found, she was able to walk well and did not seem ill at all and the police also found out that she was an actual adult. The public was shocked because this contradicted every known fact about her. For many years, Gypsy’s mother had applied to foundations and discussed her daughter’s illnesses on local news channels. Dee Dee was able to convince people that her daughter Gypsy was suffering with many diseases such as leukemia, asthma, and muscular dystrophy. Under her mother’s care, Gypsy had to intake many unnecessary medications and also undergo surgeries such as getting a feeding tube inserted.  Dee Dee also lied about Gypsy’s age by stating that she was five years younger than her actual age.

Dee Dee was never actually diagnosed, but it is believed that she was suffering with Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP), which is a mental disorder in which a caregiver makes up a disease for someone under their care in order to gain sympathy. MSBP is considered a form of abuse because vulnerable people are victims. The only time that Dee Dee had come close to getting discovered was when she took Gypsy to go see a doctor named Bernardo Flasterstein, who was a pediatric neurologist.

He suspected that Dee Dee was suffering with that mental disorder after he confirmed that Gypsy did not suffer from muscular dystrophy. Yet Dee Dee kept reporting it and claimed that there was no record of it because the records had all gotten ruined in their house by Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, he did not go through with reporting it to child services because he was afraid that his word would not be trusted.

So what led to Gypsy murdering her own mother? As Gypsy grew older, she got tired of having to follow her mom’s rules and slowly started testing her, going out of the boundaries set for her. For example, after Gypsy tried to escape from her mother in order to meet a man she had met online, Dee Dee smashed her computer and prohibited her from using the internet. Shortly after that, Gypsy was back using the internet and created an online dating profile, and that was how she met Nicholas Godejohn. The pair had a secret online relationship for two years and they created a plan for Dee Dee to meet Godejohn and hopefully approve of him, but she didn’t. After several months of Gypsy and Godejohn not being able to be with each other, they launched a plan in which they would finally be able to be together. The only solution that they came up with is that Dee Dee had to be killed. On the night of June 14, 2015, Gypsy handed Godejohn gloves, duct tape, and a knife. He then went on to kill Dee Dee.

In 2016, Gypsy Rose was sentenced to ten years in jail for second degree murder and Godejohn, in February 2019, was sentenced life in jail for the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard.

The story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose is so interesting that the network Hulu is streaming an anthology series called The Act. Actresses Joey King and Patricia Arquette have taken on the roles of Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee Blanchard. The series showcases how Gypsy slowly gains independence and starts to disobey her mother but it also features Dee Dee ‘s past that shaped who she became as a mother. If you’re intrigued by the toxic relationship of Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee, then definitely watch the show.