Featured Image Credit: Instagram/ @gypsyrose_a_blanchard/ HBO
Topics: Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Celebrity, US News, Sex and Relationships, Mental Health, Parenting, Crime, True crime
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Celebrity, US News, Sex and Relationships, Mental Health, Parenting, Crime, True crime
Gypsy Rose has reflected on going through heartbreak alone when she was in prison.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to a charge of second degree murder of her mother, Clauddine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard.
She was released early, coming out of prison last month and has since spoken out about her experience in an e-book titled Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom, including details about what it was like going through a break-up while behind bars.
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Clauddine is widely believed to have had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Munchausen by proxy is 'a mental illness and a form of child abuse,' Medline Plus states.
It's website adds: "The caretaker of a child, most often a mother, either makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick."
Blanchard plotted alongside Nicholas 'Nick' Godejohn to kill her mom, who was later found stabbed to death in her home in 2015. Gypsy was sentenced to 10 years for second degree murder and Godejohn convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.
It didn't take long for Blanchard and her mom's story to become the subject of many film and tv productions, including HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest which saw Gypsy gain an admirer who wrote to her while she was in prison.
A man named Ken sent Gypsy a letter after he watched the documentary and the pair became 'pen pals'.
She says in her memoir: "He was easy to talk to, and we had so much in common."
Their relationship soon became romantic, and after dating for a while, Ken proposed to Gypsy in October 2018.
However, after The Act premiered - a Hulu series starring Joey King based on the lives of Gypsy and her mom - Gypsy was 'transformed into a pseudo-celebrity' and the newfound level of fame took its toll on her relationship with Ken.
Gypsy writes: "My personal life became public, which was really hard on Ken. Clickbait articles appeared mockingly announcing our engagement. Ken was a private person and didn't want the attention or the scrutiny."
Ultimately, Ken decided to call off his engagement to Gypsy.
"While I understood and shared in his sentiment, I took it hard when he ended our relationship," she reflects.
And she admits her 'first experience with real heartbreak' left her missing her mom, despite everything she says her mom put her through.
Gypsy said: "The rite of passage of losing my first love happened alone in jail instead of in my bedroom surrounded by girlfriends playing me a breakup mix and eating pints of Ben & Jerry's like in the movies.
"It was a time when I missed my mom, a time that should've been shared between the two of us, but never would be."
Gypsy has previously spoken out about how her mom 'didn't deserve' to be killed, admitting she 'regret[s] it every single day'.