Gypsy Rose Blanchard experienced extreme mental and physical abuse at the hands of her mother, but one moment will always remain in her memory as the absolute lowest point.
During an interview with E News, Blanchard explained that the low point came the first time she tried to leave her mother’s care.
“That was a really, really hard time for me because she chained me to the bed and I was chained for two weeks,” she revealed. “That was one of the moments in my life that I’m like, ‘I can’t keep living this way.'”
Blanchard’s mom, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, allegedly suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which causes parents to pretend their children are sick in order to gain sympathy.
When Blanchard was a child and teenager, Dee Dee convinced her daughter and doctors that Blanchard was constantly ill. As a result, Blanchard had several painful and unnecessary surgeries and took unneeded prescriptions that created unpleasant symptoms. She also ended up losing her hair and teeth and relied on a wheelchair.
In the past, the now-32-year-old said that when she would question the treatments, her mother would hand out extreme mental abuse. So, Gypsy Rose Blanchard fell into a cycle she couldn’t break from. In the end, she convinced her then-boyfriend to kill her mother.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard Wished Former Boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn ‘Well’
On June 9, 2015, Nicholas Godejohn stabbed Dee Dee to death while Blanchard hid in her bathroom. Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Blanchard was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to ten years in prison. She was released on Dec. 28 after serving almost nine years.
While talking to Good Morning America’s Deborah Roberts, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who is now married to Ryan Anderson, admitted that she regrets her crime. But at the time, she didn’t believe she had a choice.
“She had a lot of demons herself that she was struggling with,” Blanchard said of Dee Dee. “I didn’t want her dead. I just wanted out of my situation. And I thought that was the only way out.”
Blanchard hasn’t said much about Godejohn other than hoping he’s doing well.
“All I can really say is that I did my time,” she told Roberts. “He’s doing his time for his part. And I wish him well on his journey.”