Gypsy Rose Blanchard released from prison, speaks on the abuse from her mother

Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison Thursday morning after serving 85% of the 10-year sentence she received for her role in her mother’s murder, per The Associated Press.

Blanchard, now 32, made headlines in 2015 when she convinced her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. Court proceedings revealed Dee Dee had fabricated a number of her daughter’s apparent maladies, forcing her to use a feeding tube and wheelchair and undergo painful, unnecessary treatments.

Gypsy’s legal team argued that Dee Dee had factitious disorder imposed on another, formerly known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

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Blanchard spoke to People shortly before her release and said she regretted killing her mother despite the abuse she suffered at her hands.

“I’m still really trying to come to a place of forgiveness for her, for myself and the situation. I still love my mom,” Blanchard said. “And I’m starting to understand that it was something that was maybe out of her control, like an addict with an impulse. That helps me with coping and accepting what happened.”

Did Gypsy Rose have any diseases?

Blanchard does not have any official diagnoses, but grew up being told she had a myriad of illnesses including leukemia and muscular dystrophy. Blanchard told People she suffered both mental and physical abuse for years and “was desperate to get out of that situation,” which led her to plan her mother’s murder.

Her trial attorney, Michael Stanfield, told The Associated Press that Blanchard was malnourished and weak when they first met but that she has made a remarkable recovery while behind bars.

“I can honestly say I’ve rarely had a client who looks exceedingly better after doing a fairly long prison sentence. Prison is generally not a place where you become happy and healthy,” Stanfield said. “To me, that’s kind of the evidence to the rest of the world as to just how bad what Gypsy was going through really was.”

Blanchard told People that despite the abuse, therapy and self-reflection has helped her recognize that her mother “didn’t deserve” her fate.

“I want to make sure that people in abusive relationships do not resort to murder,” she says. “It may seem like every avenue is closed off but there is always another way. Do anything, but don’t take this course of action.”

Where is Gypsy Rose Blanchard now?

Blanchard was released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri on Thursday.

“I’m ready for freedom,” Blanchard told People prior to her release. “I’m ready to expand and I think that goes for every facet of my life.”

In her interview with People, Blanchard spoke of her husband, Ryan Anderson, a Louisiana teacher whom she married last year. She expressed her desire to spend time with him and other family and to share her story.

While behind bars, Blanchard collaborated with authors Melissa Moore and Michele Matrisciani to write “Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom,” which will be released on Jan. 9, 2024.

Blanchard’s case will also be the subject of a new lifetime documentary, “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard,” which will air on Jan. 5 and will be available for streaming on the Lifetime app.

“I will share my story the way that it should be shared,” Blanchard says in the documentary’s preview.