Topics: Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Health, Parenting
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has vowed to giver her baby ‘all the things she wanted in a mother’ after announcing she is pregnant.
Yes, the woman who conspired with her now ex-boyfriend to murder her mom Clauddine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard after falling victim to years of mental and physical abuse.
Dee Dee forced her daughter to use a wheelchair, an oxygen tank and even a feeding tube for years, telling the world she was terminally ill, and doctors that she needed to be treated for conditions that she did not have, such as leukaemia.
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Now, the 32-year-old has pledged not to raise her daughter the way her mom raised her, after announcing she is pregnant with her first child with 31-year-old boyfriend Ken Urker.
Speaking to People, she said: "All the things that I wanted in a mother, I want to give to this baby.
"My mother told me I was never going to get married, raise a family, have kids or do any of that. So, to be here, standing on my own two feet and expecting my first baby, that's something I've reached as an achievement and a personal goal.
"I thank God every day that I am now having this second chance at life with a kid of my own."
Adding: "The way my mother parented me is definitely not the way I'm going to be. We always say for the next generation, we want to be better than we were raised. And so, for me, I think that couldn't be any more truthful."
Gypsy Rose was a victim of 'Munchausen syndrome by proxy' - which is defined as someone exaggerating, faking and even inducing an illness for attention.
Her mom reaped the rewards with financial gains and social advantages she believed having a sick child got her.
A home was built by the charity, Habitat for Humanity, for the two of them in Springfield, Missouri - but it was here, in June 2015, that Dee Dee would meet her fate.
Gypsy Rose's then boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn would be let into the home by the then 25-year-old, and would go into Dee Dee's room while she was sleeping and stab her 17 times in the back.
Gypsy Rose was sentenced to 10 years in prison, serving seven years before her release in December, while Godejohn was handed life without parole.
Speaking to the magazine she explained she wants to be like her 'kick-ass' stepmom Kristy Blanchard.
Gypsy Rose, who now lives in Los Angeles with Kristy and her dad Rod Blanchard, added: "I want to be kind, that my kids come to me for any kind of advice, just like my stepmother.
"I have seen how she has parented her children — and I think she's a kick-ass mom. She's supportive and not overbearing.
"She lets her kids find their dreams while also being able to pick up the pieces when those dreams fall apart sometimes — so that's kind of the mantra I want to live by."
