A Victim’s Story

Cassandra Barboza

January 25, 2024

 

32 year old Gypsy Rose Blanchard was born in Golden Meadow, Louisiana on July 27, 1991 and spent the majority of her life in Missouri with her mother Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. Blanchard is most known for her implication in the killing of her mother “Dee Dee” in 2015. Blanchard and her past boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, were convicted in 2016 for conspiring in the murder of “Dee Dee '' who had been manipulating Blanchard and portraying her as having mental illnesses such as leukemia and muscular dystrophy according to Crime +Investigation. Blanchard was charged with second degree murder and served 10 long years at Greene County Jail located in Pennsylvania. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blanchard’s case became extremely popular after many reports disclosed that her mother had truly kept Blanchard as a prisoner in her own home. One of the main problems in Blanchard's case is how her mother was treating her in a crucial and unhealthy way called Munchausen by proxy. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) says “Munchausen by proxy, formally known as factitious disorder, is when a caregiver deliberately produces illness in a person under their care.” It is a form of abuse according to NLM where the victims are often unaware of what’s happening. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some ways “Dee Dee” backed up her stories were shaving Blanchard’s head, lying about medical documents being lost after Hurricane Katrina, and keeping Blanchard isolated from family members and the rest of the world. To add onto this information Blanchard’s had hardly any schooling and education and would be very uncertain on what she was going through was not normal.

Blanchard, 32, was released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Chillicothe, Missouri, on December 28 at 3:30 a.m., three years before her original release date. While she was in prison Blanchard became very popular. In 2017 a documentary was made about her life and crime on HBO (Home Box Office). Additionally, Hulu created a miniseries called The Act released in 2019 where Joey King (an American  actress) portrayed Blanchard. With Blanchard’s miniseries and documentary her case got a large amount of attention and she became a popular social media star. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blanchard's now husband Ryan Anderson 37 and his co-worker watched her documentary. He was inspired by his co-worker to write a letter to Blanchard while she was still in prison serving her sentence. After watching her documentary, Anderson explained he never expected to hear back from Blanchard but during May 2020 they regularly kept in contact with each other and later on met in person. I believe it is captivating how they met and seeing Blanchard receive the life she deserved all along will benefit her and help her move away from her past and live in the moment. With her new life I see nothing but endless opportunities and happy memories for her and her family for the years to come. She can now relax and not hold the trauma and recollection of her past but learn from her memories for the future.