Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Who Conspired to Kill Abusive Mom, Is Pictured with Fiancé For 1st Time
Gypsy Rose Blanchard was pictured alongside her fiancé three months after she announced her engagement to him.
The photos were obtained exclusively by E! and were taken in May when Blanchard’s fiancé, Ken, met his future in-laws Rod and Kristy Blanchard. (Ken’s last name has not been publicly revealed.)
“We really do like him and we hope to get to know him better,” Kristy Blanchard tells PEOPLE, adding that they talk to him often. “He loves Gypsy very much, and you can clearly see that when he talks about her and looks at her.”
Ken and Blanchard met after Ken wrote her a letter to her after watching the HBO documentary about her case, Mommy Dead and Dearest. The couple has known each other for almost two years.
Blanchard is currently serving 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the June 2015 stabbing death of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.
This is the first romantic relationship Blanchard has had since she dated Nicholas Godejohn, the man who killed her mother.
Godejohn, who was convicted of first-degree murder and is now in prison for life without parole, killed Dee Dee to help Blanchard escape her life of abuse.
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In April, shortly after announcing Blanchard’s engagement, family friend Fancy Macelli told PEOPLE the couple’s relationship started off platonic and eventually became romantic after months of correspondence.
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Experts have said that Blanchard was the victim of Munchausen by proxy, a rare form of abuse in which a guardian — in this case Blanchard’s mother — exaggerates or induces illness in a child for attention and sympathy.
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The couple will hold off on getting married until Blanchard is released from prison.
“He’s just there for her,” Macelli said in April. “I’ve seen her grow into a really intelligent, mature person and I think a lot of that does have to do with the relationships that she’s now allowed to have…You can draw from the people you have around.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
