OAN’s Sophia Flores
12:24 PM – Thursday, December 28, 2023
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a Missouri woman who was involved in the murder of her mother and who also had a history of being abused by her since childhood, has been granted an early release from her 10-year prison term.
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Blanchard’s mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, developed the rare behavioral disorder “Munchausen by proxy” and falsely portrayed her daughter as being chronically ill since birth.
Munchhausen Syndrome by proxy describes parents who make up or exaggerate illnesses in their children in order to seek attention, validation, and sympathy from others.
On Thursday, Blanchard was released after only serving seven years of her 10-year sentence. She was charged and pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder conviction back in 2016 for the 2015 murder of her mother.
Dee Dee had reportedly forced Gypsy to eat through a feeding tube, use a wheelchair, and use an oxygen tank on a regular basis even though she did not need it.
Moreover, her mother subjected her to unnecessary surgeries, including the removal of her salivary glands.
Whenever doctors inquired about Gypsy’s medical records, Dee Dee would allege that they had been lost during Hurricane Katrina. If suspicions arose, she resorted to switching doctors and even went as far as shaving her daughter’s head to mimic the appearance of a cancer patient.
Additionally, in private, Dee Dee inflicted severe physical harm on her daughter and at times even chained her to the bed.
“She physically chained me to the bed and put bells on the doors and told … anybody that I probably would’ve trusted that I was going through a phase and to tell her if I was doing anything behind her back,” Gypsy said during an interview with ABC News’ 20/20.
The rest of the world had perceived Gypsy as being terminally ill with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, due to her mother’s continuous emotional and physical abuse throughout her life.
Through her malicious acts, her mother received many charitable donations throughout the years. Some of those included a free trip for the two of them to visit Disney World, and even a house from the charity group Habitat for Humanity.
Eventually, during her years of torment, Gypsy became curious about the outside world and secretly joined a dating app. On a Christian dating app, she met a man named Nicholas Godejohn and the two soon became romantically involved.
“(My mom) got jealous, because I was spending a little too much attention on him, and she had ordered me to stay away from him,” she said.
Together with her boyfriend, the two conspired to kill Dee Dee. One day, Godejohn fatally stabbed Dee Dee while Gypsy hid in the bathroom. After the act took place, the two went on the run but were quickly tracked down and arrested.
Godejohn was later convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile, Gypsy received a second-degree murder charge.
She is now set to release a docu-series on the Lifetime network called “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.” In the series, she will explain her entire life story from her perspective in hopes of helping other abused people who are currently in the same position she once was and for those who have similarly escaped any sort of abusive parenting in the past.
“I want to make sure that people in abusive relationships do not resort to murder,” she said. “It may seem like every avenue is closed off but there is always another way. Do anything, but don’t take this course of action.”
She will also release a book called Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom in January.
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