The Transformation Of Gypsy Rose Blanchard From Childhood To 32

The way the public perceives Gypsy Rose Blanchard has been quite a rollercoaster ride. In 2015, Gypsy's story had those closely following it in a death grip. At first, she was a figure to be pitied. She was believed to be a young girl who was suffering from numerous debilitating health issues — and there was concern that she had become a victim of kidnapping or worse. Then, she was seen as a murderous liar who had helped plot the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. But as the public learned more about the pain and suffering that Dee Dee put her daughter through, the perception of Gypsy shifted again.

It's now believed that Dee Dee had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which someone fabricates or induces the symptoms of medical issues in a dependent. Dee Dee spent years lying to doctors about her daughter, claiming that Gypsy was sick with various ailments that she didn't have. Even worse, Gypsy was subjected to taking medications and undergoing medical procedures that she didn't need. Dee Dee kept her daughter sheltered and trapped in a cycle of abuse that Gypsy eventually became desperate to escape.

The Blanchards' story has been well-documented in documentaries such as "Mommy Dead and Dearest" and "The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard," which have likely played roles in the next stage of Gypsy's transformation: When she became a free woman, the public's fascination with her story made her a huge cultural phenom.

One major medical problem that Dee Dee Blanchard conjured up resulted in Gypsy Rose Blanchard undergoing surgery to have a feeding tube inserted into her stomach. Gypsy's former pediatrician, Dr. Robert Steele, reviewed her medical records for "The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard" and discovered that Dee Dee had told doctors she was worried that Gypsy wasn't eating enough. When Gypsy learned that her mother had also claimed she was "fearful of eating," she was shocked, exclaiming, "That's ridiculous!" The insertion of the tube was followed by a six-month stint at the Children's Hospital New Orleans. 

Gypsy recalled her mother naming the tube "Mickey Button" and said that she even made up a song about it set to the tune of "The Mickey Mouse Club" theme song. But this didn't exactly make the contraption seem fun. "The feeding tube was painful, especially when it needed to be changed because stomach acid erodes the internal hardware of it," she told "The Prison Confessions." Gypsy was 8 years old when the tube was put in, and she endured having it changed twice a year until age 24.

Dee Dee wasn't just taking her daughter to the hospital frequently; she was also using Gypsy's feigned problems to score invitations to events like the 2001 Krewe of Mid-City parade in New Orleans, where Gypsy was crowned honorary queen. While being interviewed by the Daily Comet about the honor, Dee Dee said, "She is such a good child. She has never once complained."

In some photos of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, her front teeth are gone and the silver caps on others are visible. Gypsy explained on "The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard" that her mother had started rubbing Orajel on her teeth so that she would drool excessively, which is a cerebral palsy symptom. Because of the heavy drooling, Dee Dee Blanchard was able to convince a doctor to surgically remove Gypsy's salivary glands. Dr. Robert Steele said that this procedure can result in dental issues. "After the surgery, I had more and more of my teeth removed," Gypsy recalled. During her "Dr. Phil" interview, she also shared that the medication she was taking for an epilepsy diagnosis had contributed to some additional tooth loss.

Gypsy ultimately lost all but 16 of her teeth and had to start wearing dentures. "Today, my dentures don't fit in properly and I'm not able to get in a new set because I'm at prison and they don't do that here," she said on "The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard"

Around the time of her epilepsy diagnosis, Gypsy and Dee Dee were gifted with a Habitat for Humanity home in Springfield, Missouri. Gypsy told Dr. Phil that at the time, she didn't realize her mother was financially benefitting from the falsehoods about her health, but did recall Dee Dee telling her that she "had no idea how hard it is to keep up everything she built."

Gypsy Rose Blanchard continued to rebel against her abusive mother by creating a profile on a Christian dating site. She began communicating with a match named Nicholas Godejohn and initially told him that she was confined to a wheelchair. "Why would that be a problem u are an angel in my eyes," he wrote in response to her false revelation, per "20/20.  According to The Guardian, when Blanchard started making arrangements to meet Godejohn in person, she decided to come clean and told him that she actually didn't need her wheelchair.

During an interview with "Dr. Phil" in 2023, Blanchard said that Godejohn made a few surprising revelations of his own. "He said that he was psychic and that he had these premonitions. He thought that he was a 500-year-old vampire named Victor," she recalled. 

Blanchard had long had a fascination with princesses and loved dressing up like Cinderella, according to BuzzFeed News. Blanchard told Dr. Phil that she was wearing her Cinderella costume when she and Godejohn met in person for the first time in 2015. She and her mother had gone to a local theater to watch the live-action "Cinderella" remake, where she had arranged to meet with her suitor. During the movie, the pair snuck away to the men's restroom and had sex. "I wheeled myself to the bathroom and he followed while my mother was still in the auditorium," Blanchard recalled. 

Dee Dee Blanchard had long insisted that her daughter had the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, per BuzzFeed News. But while those who were closely following the Blanchards' story were getting a crash course in Munchausen syndrome by proxy, they were also learning that Gypsy Rose Blanchard was perfectly capable of arranging for her mother to be killed. In 2016, Gypsy accepted a plea agreement; in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. 

Gypsy had already been in jail for a year when she appeared in court to accept her fate. According to the Springfield News-Leader, her attorney said that she had become much healthier during that time. Gypsy later revealed that she experienced a surprising feeling when she started her long stint behind bars: freedom. "The best memory that I have in my entire life is the day that I got to prison, and I got to go out to the picnic tables. And I'm like, 'I'm free,'" she recalled on "The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard." 

In a 2024 interview for the A&E True Crime Blog, Gypsy shared that her mother never educated her past the second-grade level, so she used her time in prison to improve her education. Eventually, she was able to earn her GED. "It took me five years, but considering the fact that I had never really been to school, I'm really proud of myself," she told People. 

In 2018, Gypsy Rose Blanchard took the stand during her ex's murder trial. In a failed attempt at getting his client a lesser charge than first-degree murder, Nicholas Godejohn's attorney, Dewayne Perry, suggested that Godejohn's was a victim of Gypsy's purported manipulative behavior. "Nick was so in love with her and so obsessed with her that he would do anything, and Gypsy knew that," said Perry, per the Springfield News-Leader. Perry also argued that Godejohn was trying to save Gypsy from suffering further abuse from her mother when he stabbed Dee Dee Blanchard to death. 

During her testimony, Gypsy revealed that she had suggested to Godejohn he get her pregnant to force Dee Dee into accepting their relationship. Although Godejohn nixed this course of action, Gypsy said that she still planned on marrying and having children with him someday. "I stole baby clothes and things for a child," she confessed. She also admitted that murdering her mother was an idea she had thought about for a year before Godejohn carried out their plan. "I wanted to be free of her hold on me," she said. She explained that she didn't simply tell someone what her mother had been doing to her because she thought no one would believe her. She also confessed to stealing the knife that Godejohn killed Dee Dee with from Walmart. Godejohn is now serving a life sentence for using that weapon.

Despite the years of misery she suffered at Dee Dee's hands, Gypsy later revealed that she couldn't bear to hear her mother in pain when Godeojhn started stabbing her. Gypsy was in the bathroom at the time and recalled hearing Dee Dee scream and yell out her name. "At that point, I wanted to go help her so bad," said Gypsy to ABC News. "But I was so afraid to get up. It's like my body wouldn't move." Once her mother was dead and she and Nicholas had fled the scene, Gypsy recalled having no doubt in her mind that they would get away with the crime.

Ryan Anderson, a special education teacher, began writing letters to Gypsy Rose Blanchard sometime after the pandemic started in 2020. He told People that he got the idea from a co-worker who had shared her own plan to start corresponding with a famous inmate: "Tiger King" subject Joseph "Joe Exotic" Maldonado-Passage. Anderson settled on Blanchard as a potential prison pen pal because he remembered learning about her in the documentary "Mommy Dead and Dearest." When he received an email from her in response to his first letter, he was surprised. "My letter must have touched her in some way because I did not expect her to write me back," he said on "The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard." From there, two continued corresponding over email and formed a tight emotional bond. Blanchard later said that their relationship provided her with exactly what she needed during a period of uncertainty and fear. "Ryan has seen me through some really good times, some really hard times," she told People.

The couple first met in-person in the visitation area of Missouri's Chillicothe Correctional Center, where hand-holding was allowed. They would later marry at the prison in 2022. Zero guests were present for the ceremony, so the couple decided to have a bigger wedding after Blanchard's release so that they could celebrate with their family and friends. "Gypsy's already got the style of dress she wants," Anderson told People in January 2023. "Somebody asked her that question the other day, and I was like, 'Wow, that was specific,' and she had it ready. So I wanna give her that moment."