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.
On-screen performances aside, The Act also highlights a psychological disorder called Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Dee Dee Blanchard, Gypsy Rose's mother, reportedly had Munchhausen syndrome by proxy which caused her to fabricate Gypsy's physical wellbeing.
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.
While not much is known about him personally, he was reportedly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and a low-average IQ. He also had a run-in with the law in 2013 at the age of 23 when he was allegedly caught masturbating while watching pornography at a McDonald's, according to a local report on Patch.com.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Her daughter Gypsy realized that she wasn't actually sick, and plotted with an online acquaintance to kill her mother. 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.
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.
Hulu's "The Act" is based on Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence in a Missouri prison. Gypsy will be eligible for parole in 2023, when she's 32 years old. She is currently 27, though her real age was actually a mystery to her for most of her life—her mom Dee Dee kept it a secret from her.
"I found a couple bits of paper in my mom's safe, things that stated I was born in 1991 made me question my real age. I asked her about it, she said that it was a typo," Gypsy said. "I had taken those papers and the Medicaid card that I found with my actual real birthday on it, and I ran away from home."
Gypsy Today
For a while, Gypsy likely didn't know her own age. According to Buzzfeed News, when her father called to wish her a happy 18th birthday, Gypsy's mother told him, “she thinks she's 14.” In reality, she was born on July 27, 1991, and is 30 years old.
Yes. Fact-checking The Act revealed this to be true. Gypsy claimed that Dee Dee tied her to the bed for two weeks after she tried to run away. The difference from the TV show is that it only happened once in real life (after running away to be with the guy she met at the sci-fi convention).
Gypsy recalls that afterward, Dee Dee smashed her computer with a hammer and threatened to do the same to her fingers if she ever tried to escape again; she also kept Gypsy leashed and handcuffed to her bed for two weeks.
Prosecutors cut a deal with Gypsy, however, because of the horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. In exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree murder, Gypsy was sentenced to the minimum of 10 years in prison.
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.
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):
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.
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.
In essence, Gypsy was victimized for virtually her entire life by Dee's Dee's Munchausen syndrome by proxy, meaning Gypsy was confined to a wheelchair under the pretense of suffering from legitimate chronic illnesses and subjected to decades of tests and surgeries — when in fact she was nominally healthy and capable of ...