A 19-year-old disabled woman who was arrested & charged with second-degree murder for the murder of her mother back in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, isn’t the type of person you would expect to be going viral in 2024, but here we are. Gypsy-Rose Blanchard (officially Gypsy-Rose Blanchard-Anderson), along with her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn, was arrested back in 2015 for her role in the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard (née Pitre).
Gypsy was a victim of Munchausen by proxy syndrome, which is a psychological condition where the parent or caregiver of a child puts the child through unnecessary medical treatments including prescribed medications and surgeries. In this case, her mother Dee Dee was the one who had Munchausen by proxy, and as a result, she forced Gypsy to use a wheelchair, a feeding tube, and also forced her into medical treatments that she never even needed. The actions of people who have Munchausen by proxy are technically considered a form of child abuse, although Dee Dee was never caught abusing Gypsy or charged with any form of child abuse or neglect while she was still alive and had Gypsy in her custody. In Gypsy’s case, she had enough of her mother’s abuse towards her, even though it was unpreventable, which led to her role in the murder of her mother alongside her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn.
When it came down to the trials for both Blanchard and Godejohn, only one was conducted as Blanchard had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after being offered a plea deal. Blanchard was sentenced to 10 years in prison with the possibility of parole. However, Godejohn was not nearly as lucky as Blanchard was, as Godejohn was charged with murder in the first degree, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the end of the trial, Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
It’s no secret that the media coverage of the trial and case as a whole was very widespread and mainstream, but a major development would still happen. In early 2019, a Hulu original series “The Act” was released which covered the events of Gypsy’s life, the murder, and the trial as well. The limited series, which had 9 episodes, began development back in July 2017. While some parts of the series were fictionalized, a majority of it was based on the true story. As to be expected, a few aliases were used in place of a few characters, mainly the other people in Gypsy & Dee Dee’s neighborhood in Springfield, Missouri. The series covers events as far back as 1991, the year that Gypsy was born, all the way to her being placed in prison in 2016. The large amount of time being covered in such a small series might seem a bit concerning, but the quality of the show was good. While not all the details are 100% true to the story, it still maintains the same concept. In 2019, following the release of “The Act”, Gypsy spoke out on it and believed that the creators of “The Act” were wrong in not asking for her approval and she had threatened to sue the creators, with her stepmother stating that the creators had reached out to her and offered a 50/50 split of the revenue earned from the series. However, the Blanchard family has denied that the creators of the series stuck to their promises and have seemingly suggested that they haven’t.
After eight long years in prison, on December 28th, 2023, Blanchard was released from prison on parole. However, Godejohn will remain in prison for the remainder of his life – as he doesn’t have the possibility of parole due to his charge of first-degree murder, compared to Blanchard’s charge of second-degree murder. Let’s break down the difference. Murder in the first degree means that the murder was intentional and pre-meditated, while murder in the second degree means that while the murder was intentional, it was not pre-meditated.
However, towards the end of her sentence, she began to build a cult following on social media after people discovered her case and posted about it on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. By the time she was released from prison, she had joined Instagram, surpassing 8 million followers on the platform in just a couple of days. She has scheduled the release of a book detailing her experience in prison for digital download only. Additionally, she began the rollout of an authorized documentary series in collaboration with Lifetime. In total, the series is about 6 hours long, features in-prison and out-of-prison contributions from Gypsy and many of her family members, and was split up into a total of 6 episodes which premiered from January 5th to January 7th on Lifetime. During the press run for the series, she appeared on popular daytime television shows including ABC’s “The View” and “Good Morning America” where she revealed never-before-known details of her life. While we cannot be certain of how long Blanchard will remain a pop culture icon, she’ll likely be around for a while as she continues to post on social media platforms regularly.
