By Betsy Clarke

Gypsy Rose Blanchard after her release from prison. Photo credit: @gypsyrose_a_blanchard via Instagram.

On December 28, 2023, Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison after being sentenced to ten years for the second-degree murder of her mother, Claudine (Dee Dee) Blanchard, in 2015. Gypsy’s dismissal from prison caught the public’s attention, and she immediately began trending on social media. 

With Gypsy’s father being absent from her childhood, it was just Gypsy and her mother growing up. When Gypsy turned eight, her mother began falsely diagnosing Gypsy with illnesses, making the public and Gypsy believe that she had leukemia. Due to Dee Dee’s mental health issues, Gypsy’s mother began forcing her into medical treatments. Some experts say that Dee Dee was suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental disorder and form of abuse that causes one to make up medical symptoms for their child or loved one. Not only did Dee Dee claim Gypsy had leukemia, but also vision and hearing impairments, muscular dystrophy, and seizures. To make these illnesses believable, Dee Dee had two of Gypsy’s salivary glands removed, forced her into a wheelchair, and shaved her head. 

The medications that Dee Dee gave Gypsy resulted in real symptoms that the doctors believed they were treating. When doctors asked questions about Gypsy’s medical history, Dee Dee falsely claimed that her medical documents were lost in Hurricane Katrina. Despite this excuse, one of Gypsy’s neurosurgeons, Dr. Bernardo Flasterstein, began to question Gypsy’s muscular dystrophy diagnosis, but when he questioned Dee Dee, she became frustrated and moved to Springfield, Missouri with Gypsy. 

Flasterstein’s discovery led two caseworkers to Dee Dee and Gypsy’s home, but according to ABC News, “they found nothing out of the ordinary and closed the case.” As time passed, Gypsy longed for a more traditional teenage life and became interested in boys. She met Nicholas Godejohn, who was 26 at the time, on a Christian dating site, and the two dated online for two years before meeting in person at a movie theater in 2015.

Eventually, Gypsy slowly became aware of her mother’s lies. When Gypsy found her real birth certificate in her mother’s safe, she grew extremely suspicious. Gypsy attempted to run away from home, but her mother eventually found her and brought her home. Dee Dee proceeded to punish Gypsy for running away by smashing her computer, threatening to hammer her fingers, and handcuffing her to a bed for two weeks. Gypsy grew tired of her mother’s control over her and decided the only way around it was to kill her.

Joey King as Gypsy and Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee in the Hulu series The Act. Photo credit: @theactonhulu via Instagram.

On June 9, 2015, Godejohn traveled to Gypsy’s home in Missouri, where he planned to kill Dee Dee in order for Gypsy to escape. Gypsy was aware of Godejohn’s plan and hid in the bathroom while he stabbed Dee Dee to death. Godejohn and Gypsy then left Dee Dee’s body in her home and ran away to start their own life. The two were not worried about getting caught, but a few days following the murder, Gypsy posted on her and Dee Dee’s joint Facebook account, saying, “That B*tch is Dead!” This post caught the attention of family friends, and they rushed over to Gypsy’s old home to find Dee Dee dead. Shortly after getting caught, Gypsy pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of her mother and was sentenced to ten years, while Godejohn was sentenced to life in prison. 

On December 28, 2023, eight years into Gypsy’s ten-year sentence, she was officially released, and she almost immediately went viral on social media. Prior to Gypsy’s release, there was a reasonable amount of attention regarding her situation, including the 2017 documentary film ​​Mommy Dead and Dearest and the 2019 Hulu dramatic series The Act, starring Joey King as Gypsy and Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee. Both actresses were nominated for multiple acting awards, and Arquette won a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy for her performance. The series became relatively popular and brought plenty of awareness to Gypsy’s case, yet Gypsy is not a fan of this series. She has expressed her frustration with how the series is an “inaccurate” display of her life and refuses to reach out to King regarding her role in the series.

Gypsy’s book. Photo credit: @GypsyRose_B via Twitter.

Gypsy has now spoken out in multiple interviews, including one only a week after her release with the ABC daytime talk show The View, where she opened up about her past. Gypsy expressed the freedom she now feels in the real world and revealed her appreciation for her time in prison. Gypsy admitted, “If I didn’t go to prison, I don’t think that I would’ve acclimated to the outside world as easily as I have now.” Not only has Gypsy been featured in multiple interviews, but she has also built a platform for herself on social media apps, especially TikTok. With her videos getting over twenty million views, Gypsy has gone viral. Caroline Crawford (‘25) said “Gypsy is constantly appearing on my For You Page and Instagram reels.” Along with Gypsy’s popularity on social media, she has been promoting her book, Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom. Gypsy is using her book as a way to dive deeper into her past and directly inform her followers about her story.

Gypsy has done nothing but embrace the attention she has received from the media. Today, she continues to grow her social media platform, using it for entertainment and to educate the public on her past. 

Featured image credit: @DrPhil via X.