Gypsy eventually learned that she wasn't as sick as her mother led her to believe, and tried to escape
Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2018 and was sentenced to life in prison. Gypsy has stated it was only after Dee Dee's death that she realized the extent of her mother's deception. While Gypsy had known she could walk and eat regular food, she had believed she had leukemia. Today Gypsy is healthy.
In 2010, Dee Dee was telling everyone that Gypsy Rose was 14, but she was actually 19 years old. By then, she knew she wasn't as sick as her mother claimed — as she was well aware that she could walk.
One physician suspected that Dee Dee had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental disorder in which a parent or other caretaker exaggerates, fabricates, or induces illness in a person under their care to obtain sympathy or attention.
According to Gypsy Rose, she knew she could walk and eat real food, but that was it. Per the fascinating Buzzfeed article that inspired The Act (the author, Michelle Dean, is the co-creator of the show):
But, according to a 2016 BuzzFeed News investigation on the true story, it's unclear whether Gypsy's teeth were rotting because of poor dental hygiene, malnutrition, or the medications she didn't need—or a combination of all three. Gypsy says a medication called Tegretol for epilepsy caused her "teeth to crumble."
Gypsy never thought she was going to get caught
She was also seen expressing immediate regret at the murder of her mother, and was desperately attempting to cover her up.
Gypsy told him she had 30 different procedures, including multiple eye, leg and throat surgeries. Her salivary glands were also removed. "You have been cut open. You had parts taken out of you.
"It is possible that Gypsy Rose presents with puberphonia (high-pitched voice after birth), a class of psychogenic voice disorders," says Jayne Latz, an executive communication coach and president and founder of Corporate Speech Solutions.
When Gypsy was a child, her mom Dee Dee told her that she suffered from leukemia and a host of other health issues. Gypsy revealed in a 20/20 interview that the only medical condition she actually has is a lazy eye.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, now 28, is believed to have been a victim of Munchausen by proxy – a form of abuse in which the parent or guardian exaggerates or induces illness in a child for attention and sympathy.
In addition to being told she had leukemia, muscular dystrophy and epilepsy, Gypsy Rose Blanchard never even knew her real age.
The real Gypsy Rose Blanchard is currently serving a 10-year sentence at the Missouri Chillicothe Correctional Center. But she could be up for parole as early as 2024. Although The Act dramatizes her story, Gypsy won't benefit fiscally from the show—at least, that's according to Gypsy's stepmom Kristy Blanchard.
The meeting did not go as planned—Dee Dee hated Godejohn—but Gypsy was still able to sneak away and lose her virginity to Godejohn in a bathroom stall, according to her testimony at his trial. According to ABC News, Dee Dee punished Gypsy after the movie theater incident.
Dee Dee's years of abuse impacted Gypsy Rose physically, mentally and emotionally. She was 23 when Dee Dee was killed, but had been told by her mother that she was just a teenager with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old.
For years leading up to the murder, Gypsy was confined to a wheelchair, took several medications, and ate through a feeding tube, all at her mother's wishes.
Rod and Gypsy have reconnected since she's been in prison.
"It's a hundred times better, honestly," he said. "We email each other. She can call me anytime, and she does. I'm keeping tabs on all of her accomplishments in school.
According to her testimony at Nick's trial, Gypsy hoped that Dee Dee and her boyfriend would hit it off, and she'd allow the pair to date. Although he traveled from Big Bend, Wisconsin, to Springfield, Missouri, the meetup didn't go as planned, but she did sneak off to have sex with him in the handicap bathroom.
Dee Dee's ex-husband and Gypsy's father Rod Blanchard told Buzzfeed that he paid Dee Dee $1200 in child support every month even after Gypsy turned 18 because he believed she still needed full-time care. “There was never a question whether or not I was going to stop paying,” Rod said.
The show cuts to Gypsy waking up from the procedure, her mouth bloodied and bruised-and completely toothless. To make matters worse, Gypsy must later be honored at a Child Of The Year ceremony (later, Dee Dee surprises Gypsy with a new set of teeth, just moments before she was supposed to go on stage).
Before long, the girl's teeth get so bad that she started bleeding while brushing them and one eventually fell out in the series. That led her mother to have a dentist extract all but four of Gypsy's teeth.
Gypsy lost her virginity to him in a movie theater bathroom.
This particularly extraordinary moment from The Act's fifth episode is played out just how it happened in real life.
Dee Dee had pretended to the world that Gypsy Rose was severely physically and mentally ill — perhaps for the attention, sympathy, or so that Gypsy would be more reliant on Dee Dee. Part of that ruse included lying about Gypsy Rose's real age.
In the show, Lacey never showed up to visit Gypsy, but in reality, the story with the actual Lacey goes a bit differently. Lacey is actually based on a woman named Aleah Woodmansee, who did have that big sister relationship with Gypsy that Lacey had in The Act.