Gypsy-Rose Blanchard: Finding Abuse In Her 3 Main Relationships – As Well As In Herself

Since her release from prison in December 2023 for orchestrating the murder of her mother, Dee Dee, it seems as though Gypsy-Rose Blanchard hasn’t had a break from being on the news, and we haven’t had a break from seeing her face everywhere on the internet. I’m personally getting sick and tired of seeing her name and face every time I open my phone, and so do other people I’m sure. Even Gypsy-Rose herself is getting tired as she said she’d like to step out of the spotlight eventually and get a 9-5 job.

Of her newfound fame, Blanchard has said to Entertainment Tonight, ‘Everything’s been hyped up, and I’ve had some great opportunities, but I don’t see them lasting. There comes a time when I have to make a choice. And that is, when do I say enough is enough? And I think after so long of having my name in the spotlight, that time is coming really soon.’

That career change isn’t happening anytime soon, though, as her Lifetime docu-series, ‘Gypsy-Rose: Life After Lockup’ is now airing. For those of you that have been out of the loop, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard is a 32 year old woman who spent eight years in prison for orchestrating the murder of her mother Dee Dee Blanchard. She persuaded her boyfriend at the time, Nicholas Godejohn, who will be spending the rest of his life in prison for the 2015 crime. As a result of a mental illness called condition called Munchausen syndrome by proxy, she tricked medical professionals into believing she had a disabled daughter, wheelchair-bound and had a variety of ailments and illnesses. In 2015, as a means to escape her mother’s abuse, she encouraged her Ghodejohn to murder her mother as she knew he fantasized about murdering someone.

In her words, prison wasn’t as bad as the abuse she endured at the hands of her mother. In fact, Blanchard felt free in prison. For one, as she previously told People Magazine, Gypsy-Rose only learned how to use a tampon in prison. Before that, her mother would have her wear an adult diaper when she was on her period. Another aspect of her life that she did in prison that she couldn’t with her mother is experiment and establish a personal life for herself. She recently opened up that she got to experiment with her sexuality. She also got engaged while in prison and then got married, though not to the same man.

Gypsy-Rose’s relationships with Ken and Ryan

First she became engaged to Ken Urker. He initially contacted her after he watched Gypsy-Rose’s ‘Mommy Dead and Dearest’ documentary. After he wrote her a letter of support, the duo wrote to each other back and forth. He even kissed her the first time he visited her in prison. By October 2018, the couple was engaged to be married. In 2019, Gypsy-Rose opened up to E! News of their engagement, ‘This was something we had discussed for a while, so it wasn’t out of the blue. We bounced around the idea, we have a pretty solid thing going and we’re pretty sure this is what we want. So, on the October visit, he held my hands close and told me how much I meant to him and he’s like, ‘I would really, really be honored if I could have your hand in marriage,’ and I said yes.’

Gypsy-Rose and Ken broke their engagement in August 2019. They reunited shortly after, but things didn’t work out in the end as Gypsy-Rose married Ryan Scott Anderson in August 2022. But even though she was getting married to another man, Gypsy-Rose was still in touch with her ex-fiancé. In fact, she was in contact with him weeks before her wedding to Ryan. Gypsy-Rose initially hid this information from Ryan, which caused a major rift in their relationship at the time.

Gypsy-Rose met Anderson the same way she met Urker. He became eager to write to her after his co-worker mentioned to him she wanted to write to Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ subject matter, Joseph “Joe Exotic” Maldonado-Passage. He said of writing to Blanchard, ‘I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, if you write him, I’ll write Gypsy Rose Blanchard.’ And I had watched her documentary ‘Mommy Dead and Dearest’, like three years before that. And then ‘The Act’ had came out and I’ve never watched ‘The Act’ but I remember my friends talking about ‘The Act’ and I was like, I’ll watch the documentary again. So it was kind of fresh on my mind.’

Blanchard was released from prison on parole on December 28th, 2023. Since then, she’s been in the media a lot, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Her new husband was right there with her. All seemed well between them. At least that’s what they wanted us to believe at the time. Anderson put on a face of a supportive husband really well in interviews, and Blanchard was even rumoured to be pregnant at one point. What seemed to be like a fairy-tale ending for Gypsy-Rose ended in divorce only after less than two years after getting married and four months after her release from prison.

Following the divorce announcement, we came to understand that we really didn’t know what was happening behind closed doors. Blanchard’s close friend, Nadiya Vizier, opened up to People Magazine’, ‘It was like she was on a leash. What’s the difference between being locked in a prison cell and feeling locked in her own home and marriage? She didn’t want to put up with it anymore.’ Other sources told TMZ in April, ‘Gypsy has been telling family and friends that her estranged hubby, Ryan Anderson, had become super argumentative post-prison release and was constantly making her feel like she couldn’t do anything right.’

Gypsy-Rose: Life After Lockup

The new docu-series began airing on June 3rd, and even before it aired, we saw signs of trouble in Gypsy-Rose and Ryan’s short-lived marriage. In the trailer, Gypsy-Rose is heard saying, ‘I just don’t know if I’m going to be happy in this marriage. Eventually, I’m going to want a divorce.’ She wasn’t doubtful in her decision. She wasn’t questioning her decision to separate from her husband. She just knew she’d be getting a divorce. And things must’ve been really bad for her to file to divorce so fast. Even though they’d been married for almost two years, they’d only actually lived the ‘married life’ for four short months.

Anderson, on his part, is seen crying and is heard in the trailer saying, ‘I don’t want to lose my wife. I love her.’ Despite his pleas, Blanchard officially filed for divorce on April 8th. And if that wasn’t enough, she also filed a restraining order against her estranged husband. In May, she opened up to People Magazine about her impending divorce. She said, ‘I think that there is a sense of freedom of following your heart, following what you feel like is right for you. In my marriage, I felt like a part of me was lost in it, and so I feel like I found that missing piece of myself that I always felt was lost and now reclaiming that back. I definitely feel a sense of belonging in that space. It’s heartbreaking, because no one gets married to get a divorce. Processing those emotions has been hard.’

The same month she filed for divorce, Gypsy-Rose was seen out and about with her ex-fiancé, Ken Urker. They even got matching tattoos together. The public began to scrutinize the former inmate and make assumptions about her marriage. Many believed she used Ryan Anderson for clout and attention. She told E! News that she knew Urker was ‘The One’ the moment they met and that they kept in touch the entire time she was married to Anderson. She said, ‘It wasn’t until I filed for divorce that I kind of really realized that that spark, that connection [with Ken] is even better than I expected. And we’ve grown a lot. I’ve matured. He’s grown. And so I think right now is the time in our lives that it’s the right time, right place, right everything. Beforehand, when her divorce was still fresh, Blanchard opened up to TMZ of her relationship with Ken,  ‘After reconnecting earlier this month, we realized that our love for each other is simply undeniable, and life is too short to not take a chance. We have a history that made for the perfect foundation for a new beginning.’

History repeats itself

Life sure hasn’t been easy for Gypsy-Rose. It’s pretty crazy to even think that prison was her safe space in comparison to the abuse she endured at the hands of her mother, the one person that was supposed to protect her. Though she escaped her mother’s abuse, but, in a way, she went back to the abusive cycle when she married Ryan Anderson. We never saw enough of Ken to get to know his treatment towards Gypsy-Rose, at least not yet as the docu-series hasn’t been released to its entirety, but we’ve seen enough of Ryan to know that he wasn’t good to her, and that, in a way, he mirrored his deceased mother-in-law. Let me explain…

When news first broke of Gypsy-Rose’s impending divorce, I had the same thoughts as everyone else. I was sure she used him for clout and media attention. Then I realized she didn’t actually need him for attention. She already had it before she ever got together with him or even with Ken. Maybe it was the other way around; Ryan was the one who used HER for clout and media attention.

Anderson told TODAY.com in a Zoom interview, ‘It was like, she was here one day and the next she was gone. She wanted to be married, and and now she doesn’t. It’s just crazy how it all happened like that. I probably know her better than anybody else in the world. She was more than just that person to me. I didn’t look at her as what she did as who she was.’

There are several issues I have with what he’s said about his former wife. First of all, breakups, specifically marriages, aren’t anything that’s taken lightly. Things must’ve been really bad if Gypsy-Rose decided to pull the plug on her marriage that fast. It doesn’t matter that a lot of the things we’ve seen her do and say are things you’d expect from a teenager. She’s not your typical 32 year old woman. She’s a 32 year old woman who spent her entire adolescence being treated like a child and abused by the woman who was supposed to raise her and teach her right from wrong, which then led to her spending her 20’s in prison. Of course she won’t be acting her age as 32 year old woman in the real world without some guidance and stability in her life.

Anderson didn’t give her that stability. As much as he wanted, and still wants, to believe that he did, he didn’t. In my honest opinion, based on what I’ve seen in the few episodes of the new docu-series that’s airing now, I think Gypsy-Rose went back to what she ran away from as soon as she got out of prison. I think Anderson initially wrote to his now ex-wife because he saw an opportunity to lie and manipulate and control her, because that’s what she’d experienced her entire life and that was all she knew.

While watching ‘Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up’, I could just tell from the moment he greeted her as she was released from prison that he had abusive tendencies. Seeing him and his treatment of Gypsy-Rose was a reminder for me the abuse I’d experienced at the hands of my exes. It also reminded me of the abuse a couple of my girlfriends went through with their significant others. One girlfriend safely got out of that relationship. The second ended up getting married and having a child with the significant other who’d abused her, so I had to distance myself and end the friendship for my own good and my own well-being.

Getting to know abuse

If you watched the docu-series, you might’ve been able to spot Anderson’s abusive tendencies. If you didn’t, just know it’s okay too. Not everyone can spot abusive behaviour right from the spot, especially if you didn’t experience abuse in your life. One thing that’s important to remember is that abuse doesn’t just come in a physical form. It can also come in verbal, emotional, mental and financial forms as well. So to better understand what abuse is and how to spot it. This list is based on what I experienced myself, what I witnessed others experience, as well as the stories I read. So here it goes…

• First and foremost, there’s the obvious physical abuse where the abuser hits the abuse physically, such as slapping, pushing you against a wall, and biting. This abuse will leave physical marks on, though they can be covered up with makeup.
• Showing signs of aggressive behaviour. This can include punching and breaking walls out of anger. This was discussed in the previous post about Backstreet Boys singer, Nick Carter, when discussing his ex-girlfriend and the abuse she endured by him when they lived together.
• Constantly putting you down and intentionally making you feel bad about yourself. This is a type of verbal abuse. It can include putting down your looks, your work, your goals and dreams for the future, or anything else that you do or plan to do. This does include laughing at other people putting you down and not defending you.
• Holding you back from achieving your goals for no reason other than their personal gain of controlling you. This can include going to school, accepting a job offer, or making a career change. This can lead to financial abuse, which includes doing things like withholding money from you, withholding financial information from you, as well as lying about it, giving you an ‘allowance’, and more.
• The constant need to touch your partner and show PDA. This can be due to the abuser wanting to feel like you’re theirs; like you’re their product. They treat you like you’re their product, unbeknownst to you due to the manipulation, and they want EVERYONE to know that you’re theirs. I’ve seen this type of abuse twice. Some might see this and think it’s cute. Some say, ‘AWWW.’ But there’s nothing cute about it. It’s problematic.
• Talking over you. This is something we see Ryan Anderson do a lot to Gypsy-Rose in the docu-series. When she’s on the phone with her parole officer, she’s trying to talk, but Anderson keeps interrupting her and aggressively speaking on her behalf even though no one was actually speaking to him in the first place and the matter didn’t even involve him. It’s another sign of a need to control the other person for the need to control the narrative.

There’s a twist

With all that being said, Gypsy-Rose isn’t innocent either. In fact, she’s the mastermind of manipulation and deception in her relationship with Ryan, as well John Godejohn. She was looking for someone like Godejohn, someone who’s vulnerable and easily manipulated, to do the deed of murdering her mother. He has multiple disabilities, including mental disabilities, that make him vulnerable and easily manipulated. Gypsy-Rose knew that and used it to her advantage. Godejohn is showing his remorse for killing Dee Dee Blanchard, and is spending the rest of his life in prison while Gypsy-Rose is out and about telling the media that she paid her price and deserves to be free.

And Ryan? Gypsy-Rose was still in communication with her ex-fiancé, Ken, even though she knew that it bothered Ryan, and she openly told Ryan that she had doubts about getting married to him. But she married him anyway. I think she made the right decision in ending her marriage to Ryan, but she shouldn’t have married him in the first place. And she shouldn’t have gotten together with Ken right after her separation either. She’s so good at getting people to do what she wants them to do, she even got him to move cross country so soon after getting together to be closer to her. In hindsight, Gypsy-Rose isn’t that much different than her mother. She says she doesn’t like attention, but all she’s doing is getting attention and loving it. And she’s getting a coin for that attention just like her mother did. I just hope that she uses that fame and attention for the greater good somehow.

It seems that she’s starting to as she just revealed that she wants to work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I would like to work with the Make-a-Wish Foundation. ‘I feel like after my experience I honestly felt like I really want to give back. It wasn’t fair to those kids what my mom did, getting me a wish and pretending to make me look like a sick child so my mother could get us a free trip to Disney,’ she said. She’s also made a donation to the foundation. ‘I personally have made a donation to Make-A-Wish because I feel like there is nothing that I can ever say that will make that right. However, giving a donation to Make-A-Wish made me feel like I was giving that wish back to a child, that I was giving back what was taken.’

Gypsy-Rose also has prison reform on her mind. She’s even looking at taking psychology courses in order to successfully get into advocacy work. I know what it’s like to be a prisoner. I know that inmates are not always treated fairly. I was guilty of my crime, but there are a lot of other people that are innocent of theirs. And they don’t get to have their voices shared enough. So I would really like to shed light on that kind of stuff.’ In a preview of Hulu’s ‘The Kardashians, Blanchard is seen meeting Kim Kardashian, which actually makes perfect sense as Kim has done a lot of work in the prison reform.

So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Gypsy-Rose Blanchard is nothing like her mother…