Since HBO’s documentary about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard, Mommy Dead and Dearest, premiered in 2017, people have been fascinated by the true crime case involving Gypsy Rose Blanchard, and now that Hulu’s series, The Act, which is based on the same case has premiered, that interest is getting stirred up all over again. And if you’re getting immersed in the Blanchard family crime, you might be wondering when Gypsy Rose gets out of jail. Now, it seems she has about five more years left to serve in her 10-year sentence.
Gypsy Rose’s story is an unusual one. She grew up in Louisiana with her mother, Dee Dee, who suffered from Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy. Gypsy's mother convinced her and her doctors that she had illnesses that she actually didn’t have. Although Gypsy spent most of her childhood confined to a wheelchair, she could actually walk, and eventually, she discovered she wasn’t as sick as her mother said she was.
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After meeting a man named Nicholas Godejohn online and starting a relationship with him, Gypsy admitted that she asked him to kill Dee Dee so she could escape her. In June 2015, Godejohn stabbed Dee Dee to death in her home, and according to a local Fox news affiliate, in February 2019, he was sentenced to life without parole for Dee Dee’s murder.
Gypsy’s sentencing was a bit different. According to the Springfield News Leader, in July 2016, she received 10 years in prison for pleading guilty to second degree murder. At that point, she had already served one year in the Greene County Jail, leaving her with eight and a half years to serve in prison.
In another article from the Springfield News Leader, Gypsy Rose’s stepmother, Kristy Blanchard, said that she is “doing amazing” now that she is free from Dee Dee.
“There has been no long-term side effects from all the medication her mom had given her. She has a clean bill of health, thank God — and I really only think what it has done was stunt her growth,” Kristy said. “Now, don't get me wrong, her eyes, she does have a lazy eye if she doesn't wear her glasses all the time. That was since she was a little baby. Everything else was all a lie."
Gypsy Rose is eligible for parole in 2024, five years from now. Although Gypsy’s father, Rod, started a Change.org petition to free her earlier because of the unusual circumstances behind her case that has garnered more than 17,000 signatures, so far there has been no indication that she’ll be released earlier.