According to USA Today, among other sources, experts believe Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, had Munchausen by proxy. The mental disorder, also known as factitious disorder, involves a guardian fabricating, exaggerating, or inducing certain illnesses in a child for attention, sympathy, and even money. It is considered a relatively rare form of child abuse.
Marc Feldman, who has been studying Munchausen by proxy for decades now, believes Gypsy was a victim of the disorder. Gypsy, once known as a sick child with cancer, and her boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn murdered Dee Dee in June 2015. Dee Dee had abused Gypsy for years, convincing her that she had leukemia, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, asthma, and poor vision.
Prosecutors considered Gypsy a victim of abuse and offered her a plea deal. She pleaded guilty, receiving 10 years in prison. Her release date is on December 28, 2023, after serving 85% of the term. Meanwhile, her then-boyfriend, Godejohn, is currently serving a life sentence without parole ever since his late 2018 first-degree murder conviction.
Dee Dee Blanchard’s Munchausen by proxy disorder explained
People Magazine claimed that the truth about Dee Dee Blanchard’s Munchausen by proxy disorder surfaced after her murder in June 2015. Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, plotted her murder. The latter stabbed Dee Dee to death at Blanchards’ Missouri home on June 14. Gypsy later admitted to her role in the murder and also revealed details about the abuse she endured.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard lived in a wheelchair and went through unnecessary medical procedures because of Dee Dee. The latter claimed her daughter was a terminally ill teenager with the mental capacity of a child. But in reality, Gypsy was 23 years old at the time, and she could walk.
Dee Dee claimed she and her daughter fled Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans when they arrived in Missouri in 2005. Dee Dee claimed that they lost Gypsy’s medical records in the storm, using the situation as a cover story, suggested authorities. She moved her daughter from under the care of one doctor to another. The mother also gave Gypsy medications to mimic the symptoms of the diseases she claimed Gypsy had. Later, she shaved the girl’s head to make her appear like she was undergoing chemotherapy.
Investigators believed money was the motive for Dee Dee Blanchard’s years-long deception. The mother-daughter duo received heavy donations while in Springfield, Missouri. These included a home from Habitat for Humanity and paid trips to Disney World.
Moreover, to keep up the facade, Dee Dee isolated herself as well as Gypsy from friends and relatives. She even refused to let the latter spend alone time with her father, Rod Blanchard. People reported that Rod, who lives in Louisiana, divorced Dee Dee during her pregnancy with their daughter. The father told the outlet that “I had my doubts,” but also regrets not recognizing the abuse sooner.
Rod said, “I can’t imagine anything else apart from raising someone in a prison [where] you would be able to control somebody. It was the perfect breeding ground for a controlled situation.”
The 2017 documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest” revisits the peculiar case. Moreover, Hulu’s The Act also chronicles the same case, presenting a more dramatized version of the occurrences.
Experts believe Dee Dee Blanchard had Munchausen by proxy, which made her induce certain illnesses in Gypsy Rose Blanchard for attention, sympathy, and money.
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