Topics: Gypsy Rose Blanchard, True crime, Crime
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has opened up about what happened on the night she and her former boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, killed her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.
Blanchard has spoken out about the events surrounding her mother's 2015 murder after she was released from prison, where she spent eight years after being convicted of second-degree murder.
Blanchard, who is now 33 and a mom herself, was found to have let Godejohn into the home and hid in a bathroom while he carried out the murder of her mom, who had been telling family members that her daughter was seriously ill.
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In a new interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Blanchard recalled the night her mom died, detailing what was happening as Godejohn made his way from his home in Wisconsin to Dee Dee's home in Missouri.
She said: "I was with my mom in our Habitat for Humanity home. We watched a movie and then we went to sleep. And then it happened."
Blanchard recalled how prior to her mom's murder, she'd gone into the kitchen and approached her mom.
"I gave her a hug and I told her, 'I love you'," she said. "I remember holding a pillow that she slept with like every night. And crying into it and apologizing to this pillow, as if it were her, just saying 'I'm so sorry and I love you' and just taking in the scent of the pillow. Because in a sense it's like saying goodbye."
Blanchard admitted she could hear her mom being murdered while she waited in the bathroom, and said 'in that moment' she wanted to help her.
"The thought in my head was, 'I want to help', but I was almost paralzyed in my own skin," she said.
Blanchard insisted she had not told Godejohn to stab her mom '17 times', but when it came to planning the murder as a whole, she said it was a result of the circumstances she was in at the time.
An investigation into Blanchard's relationship with her mom revealed that Dee Dee had forced her daughter to undergo unnecessary medical procedures, and she was made to use a wheelchair and feeding tube even though she didn't need them.
After details about Blanchard's experience came to light, experts expressed the belief that Dee Dee had a psychological disorder known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which is when a parent or guardian exaggerates or invents their child’s medical conditions.
Blanchard told 60 Minutes Australia: "I can honestly say I would not have committed that crime had I not been pushed to the brink."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 to reach a 24-hour crisis center or you can webchat at 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
