Gypsy Rose Blanchard has made headlines for more than just murder.
Gypsy was released from prison in December 2023 after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence. She was granted parole in September of that year.
Gypsy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016, the year after her allegedly abusive mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in her Springfield, Missouri, home.
In 2015, Gypsy was arrested alongside her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, with whom she planned the crime.
Gypsy’s mother was believed to have suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, “a psychological disorder marked by attention-seeking behavior by a caregiver through those who are in their care,” according to WebMD. Because of Dee Dee’s alleged condition, Gypsy grew up believing that he suffered from leukemia, muscular dystrophy, brain damage, seizures, and vision and hearing impairments, among other illnesses. Dee Dee made the public believe her daughter was wheelchair-bound and had to use a feeding tube, and solicited donations to help fund her daughter’s care.
During her prison stay, Gypsy became a household name after she appeared in a hugely popular 2017 HBO documentary about her crime. Joey King later portrayed Gypsy in The Act, a Hulu miniseries released in 2019.
With so much attention on her case, Gypsy made her way into the pop-culture stratosphere. Former Bachelorette contestant Josh Sieter sent messages to a married Gypsy while she was in prison. Gypsy herself even shared a public plea to befriend Taylor Swift following her prison release. (Her bid to attend a Kansas City Chiefs game following her prison release was ultimately shut down after TMZ reported she was asked to leave the state of Missouri.)
Here, we break down the biggest pop-culture moments tied to Gypsy’s incredible story.
‘Mommy Dead and Dearest’
In 2017, documentarian Erin Lee Carr interviewed both Gypsy and Godejohn for her film Mommy Dead and Dearest, the documentary that thrust Gypsy into the public eye. Carr later went on to helm the Netflix doc Britney v. Spears.
‘Mother Knows Best’
Gypsy appeared from prison on a 2017 episode of Dr. Phil, which was titled “Mother Knows Best: A Story of Munchausen by Proxy and Murder.” A sympathetic Dr. Phil called Gypsy “a prisoner her whole life” in the episode, adding, “All she wanted was to be free.”
‘Death on Social Media’
CID, a long-running Indian police procedural show, released an episode loosely based on Gypsy and Dee Dee in 2017. Instead of America, the story was set in India.
‘Mother of All Murders’
Good Morning America featured a segment titled “Mother of All Murders” in 2018, which featured an interview with Gypsy during her time in prison.
The Investigation Discovery channel released a 2018 episode of James Patterson’s Murder is Forever with the same title which detailed Gypsy’s case.
‘The Story of Gypsy Blanchard’
ABC’s 20/20 showcased Gypsy’s story in 2018 through her first-ever network interview. Godejohn was featured in the episode as well.
“The prison that I was living in before, with my mom, it’s, like, I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t have friends. I couldn’t go outside, you know, and play with friends or anything,” Gypsy told Amy Robach. “Over here, I feel like I’m freer in prison than with living with my mom. Because now, I’m allowed to … just live like a normal woman.”
‘Gypsy’s Revenge’
Investigation Discovery released this two-part docuseries in 2018, which also featured interviews with Gypsy, Godejohn and several people connected to the former couple.
‘Love You to Death’
This Lifetime movie loosely based on Dee Dee’s murder was released in 2019 with Marcia Gay Harden starring as the mother character. The film came with a disclaimer that it was “inspired” by real events.
‘The Act’
King starred as Gypsy in the eight-episode miniseries, which also starred Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee. King was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series, while Arquette won in the supporting actress category.
“I wanted to really become her,” King told Variety in 2019 of the role. “To transform myself entirely, lose all vanity, lose all ego, lose everything I thought I knew about acting, just throw it out the window.”
‘The Politician’
Jessica Lange and Zoey Deutch starred as Dusty Jackson and Infinity Jackson, respectively, in the Netflix series released in 2019. Their fictionalized relationship appeared to be based on Gypsy and Dee Dee.
“Like so many other things in The Politician, there’s a lot of social commentary about things that are very much still in the zeitgeist,” Deutch said during an interview with Refinery29, responding to the Gypsy comparisons. “It’s very fair to draw comparisons. But I would just like to reiterate that these are fictional characters in a very fictional world. So that is how I can comment on the comparison. Clearly it isn’t that relationship, but I understand the drawing of comparison.”
‘Grace Is Gone’
The 2020 novel written by Emily Elgar was “ripped from today’s headlines,” according to a summary posted to Goodreads, with a plot strikingly similar to the story of Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee, but taking place in Ashford, Cornwall, England.
‘The Bachelor’ Alum Josh Sieter’s Emails
In April 2023, Gypsy slammed Sieter (who first appeared on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s Bachelorette season) after he sent her emails in jail and claimed they were in a relationship.
Gypsy’s family said they were “fully aware” of Sieter’s contact with Gypsy in a statement at the time. “We want him to know that her husband, family, friends and loved ones are fully prepared to support her in every way,” the statement read, according to Newsweek.
“She doesn’t need a man because she is happily married to Ryan and in love. She is very busy preparing for her pending parole,” the family said. “She does not need the distractions. He is still attempting to email her and needs to know he will not get another response. He will not be allowed to visit and has been blocked so he need not try. In other words, she has no need for him to contact her again.”
Gypsy messaged Sieter that she knew “what lies” he was spreading online, according to In Touch, telling him that she was married. (Gypsy married Ryan Anderson in 2022.)
“All I did was ask to get to know her,” Sieter wrote via Instagram Stories at the time, sharing a screenshot of Gypsy’s email. “This was totally uncalled for.”
Gypsy’s Hope to Meet Taylor Swift
Gypsy revealed to TMZ in November 2023 that she and Anderson had tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs game on New Year’s Eve, where she hoped to cross paths with Swift, who is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
However, when New Year’s Eve came, Gypsy was not at the football game. TMZ reported that she had been asked to leave the state of Missouri following her prison release. Instead, she posed in a New Orleans Saints jersey when celebrating the holiday.
“Louisiana love 🥰NFL game day!” Gypsy captioned her Instagram post.
