Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison on December 28, 2023, after serving nearly eight years behind bars. What did Gypsy do and why was she sentenced?

Why Did Gypsy Rose Blanchard Go to Prison?

In July 2016, Gypsy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder following the June 2015 death of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.

Gypsy conspired with her then-boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, to kill Dee Dee. Nick was the one who carried out the murder, stabbing Dee Dee to death while Gypsy hid in the bathroom. Gypsy and Nick met online and felt that they had to kill her mother in order to pursue their relationship.

What Did Dee Dee Blanchard Do to Gypsy Rose?

Gypsy was a victim of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. Dee Dee convinced people – including Gypsy herself – that her daughter was terminally ill and suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy and asthma. She also claimed that Gypsy was born premature and therefore had the mind of a 7-year-old child when she was a teenager.

Gypsy detailed her mother’s abusive behavior in an interview with 20/20. “She physically chained me to the bed and put bells on the doors and told anybody that I probably would have trusted that I was going through a phase, and to tell her if I was doing anything behind her back,” she shared. Gypsy also revealed that her mom would go “two days or so” without feeding her at times.

Dee Dee kept up her lies by giving Gypsy medications to induce symptoms of the diseases that she said her daughter had. She also shaved Gypsy’s head to make it seem like she was undergoing chemotherapy and had her use a wheelchair, despite the fact that she was able to walk.

What Did Gypsy Rose Blanchard Do?

Gypsy confided in Nick during their online conversations. After a year of messaging, she revealed that she was secretly able to walk. They met for the first time at the movies in 2015. Their second in person meeting was the day that Nick killed Dee Dee.

Through their online conversations, Nick and Gypsy planned a future together and she became desperate to escape her mother. Although Gypsy said that killing Dee Dee was initially “plan B,” Nick revealed that they went through with the murder because they felt like getting rid of Dee Dee was the only way that they could spend their lives together and free Gypsy from her mother’s abuse.

After the crime was committed, Nick and Gypsy had sex, although they disagreed about whether or not it was consensual. They mailed the knife used to stab Dee Dee to Nick’s home in Wisconsin before eventually fleeing there themselves.

Dee Dee’s friends reportedly first worried that something was wrong after seeing a concerning Facebook post from Gypsy on Dee Dee’s page. “That Bitch is dead!” the post read, according to Buzzfeed News. After the authorities arrived at the Blanchard home and found Dee Dee’s body, they traced the IP address of the Facebook post to where Gypsy and Nick were staying in Wisconsin.

Where Is Gypsy Rose Blanchard Now?

Gypsy received her prison sentence of 10 years in 2016. She was initially set for a 2026 release from Chillicothe Correctional Center, but was granted parole in September 2023. Her new release date was set for December 28, 2023, which meant she would serve 85 percent of her sentence. The time she spent in county jail before her 2016 trial was counted towards the sentence.

“I have complicated feelings about [whether I should be in prison],” Gypsy admitted in 2016. “I believe firmly that, no matter what, murder is not okay. But at the same time I don’t believe I deserve as many years as I got.”

Gypsy and Nick ended their relationship after their arrests. While serving her prison sentence, Gypsy married Ryan Scott Anderson in August 2022. Gypsy and Ryan split in March 2024, and their divorce was finalized in December of that year.

Meanwhile, she rekindled her romance with her former fiancé, Ken Urker, in April 2024, and they welcomed their first child together, daughter Aurora, in December 2024.

Gypsy has quickly embraced her life in the public eye, and she’s opened up about her time in prison on the Lifetime docuseries Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup and in her December 2024 memoir, My Time to Stand.