The two did in fact meet at a sci-fi convention, and as Michelle Dean writes, shortly after meeting, "Gypsy and this man began communicating online." "At the time, in February 2011, Gypsy and Dee Dee were leaving everyone with the impression that she was 15. (She was actually 19) ... the man in question was 35.
Gypsy's mother may have been acting like her daughter was still a young teen, but, in reality, Gypsy was 21 when she began talking to Godejohn. The Springfield News-Leader reported that their text conversations usually centered on love, sex, and their hopes of building a life together.
How did Gypsy and Nick meet? The two met on a Christian dating site, according to the Buzzfeed article that inspired the Hulu show.
In 2012, Gypsy met Nick on ChristianDatingForFree.com, and she wasn't the only one desperate for connection. According to the psychologists who testified at his hearing, Nick was a troubled young man with a difficult upbringing and an autism-spectrum diagnosis to boot.
His autism diagnosis
Godejohn was diagnosed with autism in grade school, according to his father Bobby Godejohn.
The two did in fact meet at a sci-fi convention, and as Michelle Dean writes, shortly after meeting, "Gypsy and this man began communicating online." "At the time, in February 2011, Gypsy and Dee Dee were leaving everyone with the impression that she was 15. (She was actually 19) ... the man in question was 35.
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.
"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.
In addition to being told she had leukemia, muscular dystrophy and epilepsy, Gypsy Rose Blanchard never even knew her real age. You'll see in the trailer a fictionalized moment when her mother Dee Dee Blanchard (played by Patricia Arquette) is asked Gypsy's age.
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.
She was 19 at the time (though she and her mother claimed she was 15) and the man was 35. He took Gypsy back to his hotel room, but Dee Dee found them and presented paperwork stating that Gypsy was a minor.
The show gives the man the name Scott and stretches out Gypsy's crush on him as they exchange texts. It culminates with her running away to be with him when he's hospitalized. Dee Dee arrives at his home the same night with the counterfeit papers that state Gypsy is a minor.
And immediately after treating her like a literal child, Dee Dee is angry right back because Gypsy has started her period early. The offense was apparently that Gypsy didn't immediately alert her mother to this fact. Also, it's not exactly as if Dee Dee has made Gypsy very self sufficient after all these years.
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.
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.
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.
However, Gypsy wasn't actually unwell — her mother had been lying about her symptoms. Experts believe Dee Dee's behavior stemmed from the mental disorder Munchausen syndrome by proxy; because Dee Dee wanted to be a caretaker, she feigned and induced illness in her daughter.
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.
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.
For Gypsy, she's made it clear that she no longer has any romantic feelings for Nick in interviews, eventually learning the fairy tale love stories she grew up obsessed with are just that: fairy tales. "In the Disney movies, everything's a fantasy, it's a fairy tale.
According to Macelli, Gypsy says that the storyline is "inaccurate" and that she thinks meeting Joey would "validate the series' narrative." Among other things, Gypsy apparently thinks the show makes her look like a nymphomaniac and doesn't like how often the character of Dee Dee ties up the character of Gypsy in bed ...
Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who in 2015 organized a plan with then boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to kill her mother, is now married to a man from Lake Charles. She tied the knot in Missouri with Ryan Scott Anderson on June 27.
In real life, it played out slightly differently. In 2011, Gypsy met a 35-year-old man at a science fiction convention where they struck up some form of relationship, according to Inside Edition. (It's unclear if he ever dressed up as Wolverine.)
Photo: Waukesha County Sheriff's Department/AP Images. The Reality: The Buzzfeed article that The Act is based on reported that Gypsy Rose did indeed have a secret Facebook account under the name Emma Rose, just like in the show. She often used the account to talk to Woodmansee about boys, and to talk to boys.
As for her teeth, they did rot and were subsequently removed, likely due to the removal of Gypsy's salivary glands. According to Gypsy, her mother used a numbing agent to numb her gums, causing her to drool, which helped convince doctors to remove the glands.