Where Is Gypsy Rose Blanchard Now? The True Story Behind ‘The Act’

They say that truth is stranger then fiction, and Hulu’s latest true crime adaptation The Act proves that idiom to be true. The eight-episode miniseries follows the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard, a mother of an ill daughter. However, nothing is as it seems in this true story. Over the course of this case it was revealed that her daughter Gypsy Rose Blanchard was never ill. She was actually healthy and after a lifetime of enduring her mother’s abuse she was out for revenge.

Executive produced by Michelle Dean, the journalist who first wrote about this story for Buzzfeed, Nick Antosca, Writ Large, Greg Shephard, and Britton Rizzio, The Act is poised to be this season’s latest true crime obsession. Packed with an all-star cast that includes a wide-eyed Joey King and an absolutely sinful Patricia Arquette, The Act is a twisting tale of abuse and neglect told through one mother and her daughter. The first two episodes of the Hulu original have left many viewers wondering how much of this story is true? And where exactly is Gypsy Rose Blanchard now? Here’s everything we know about this real life tragedy.

How much of The Act is true?

Though the Hulu original drama makes it clear that it’s a fictionalized retelling of events, most of the bare bones of case are in place. Michelle Dean, one of The Act‘s executive producers, is the first reporter who covered this case in-depth on a national scale. Dean’s piece for Buzzfeed on the Blanchards’ case is an engaging and thorough explanation of this strange story. But if you don’t have time for a long expose, here are the basic facts you need to know.

In June of 2015 police found the murdered body of Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard in her home in Greene County, Missouri. After her body was discovered her daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who allegedly suffered from asthma, muscular dystrophy, leukemia, along with several other conditions as well as brain damage, was nowhere to be found. The only clue police had to go on to find this young girl was a Facebook post on Dee Dee’s account that said “That Bitch is dead!”

In the weeks after Dee Dee’s murder, the shocking truth about this death was uncovered. Police used the post on Dee Dee’s account and her daughter Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s secret Facebook account to locate Gypsy Rose and her boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn. Both were hiding in the home of Godejohn’s parents. Not only were police able to find the knife in Godejohn’s possession that was used as the murder weapon, they were also able to find text messages between the two planning Dee Dee Blanchard’s murder. This seemingly innocent sick girl was responsible for the murder of her mother.

However, that was far from the biggest secret Gypsy Rose was hiding. After police found Gypsy Rose and Godejohn they quickly discovered that the supposedly ill, wheelchair-bound girl could walk on her own with no problem. Not only that, but Gypsy Rose was actually healthy, mentally capable, and was about four years older than the age neighbors and friends thought she was.

Dee Dee Blanchard had been lying about her daughter’s age and illnesses for years. Dee Dee would often allege that they were misplaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to explain Gypsy Rose’s incomplete and hectic medical records. When doctors asked about her ailments, Dee Dee would reportedly step in for her child, listing off what was wrong with a degree of authority that many medical professionals trusted. According to the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, the Blanchards went to Mercy Children’s Hospital over 100 times between 2004 and 2015.

Though a handful of doctors and nurses doubted the Blanchards’ claims, few followed up on their suspicions. If anyone got close enough to disproving Dee Dee’s lies, she would switch professionals. Dee Dee also methodically kept her daughter away from her father and anyone else in their family. She claimed that she was hiding from an abusive ex-husband, though Gypsy Rose’s father disputes those claims along with the allegations that he didn’t pay child support.

Dee Dee Blanchard was never diagnosed with a mental illness while alive. However several professionals have since suspected that she had Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Those with this mental disorder often fabricate ailments and sicknesses for the person they’re taking care of or their child. This is often done to garner sympathy and attention. It’s impossible to know if Dee Dee Blanchard actually had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and Gypsy Rose certainly didn’t know if her mother had this mental illness when she was being abused by her mother; contrary to the claims made in the Lifetime documentary Love You to Death.

Where is Gypsy Rose Blanchard now?

Both Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Nicholas Godejohn were sentenced to time in prison. Gypsy Rose pled guilty to second-degree murder and accepted a plea deal that only gave her a 10-year sentence. Godejohn, who actually committed the murder, received a significantly more severe penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison with an additional 25 years to run concurrent with his life sentence for first-degree murder.

Gypsy Rose is currently serving out her sentence at Missouri’s Chillicothe Correctional Center. According to Dean’s reporting, while in prison she finally learned about Munchausen syndrome by proxy. She has since claimed that her late mother had every symptom.

Godejohn’s lawyers petitioned that their client receive a new trial, arguing that the state’s evidence that Godejohn considered raping Dee Dee Blanchard the night of the homicide swayed the jury. In February of 2019 a judge denied a retrial but acknowledged that a psychologist’s claims of Godejohn’s “diminished capacity” could potentially carry the case to a higher court.

Did Rod Blanchard know about the abuse?

Gypsy Rose’s father claims he knew nothing about Dee Dee’s systematic abuse of their daughter. The HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest contains multiple interviews from Rob in which he explains his shock about the case and learning that his daughter could actually walk. He has also been more sympathetic to Dee Dee Blanchard in past interviews. “I think Dee Dee’s problem was she started a web of lies, and there was no escaping after,” he said to BuzzFeed.

Does Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s voice really sound like that?

It does. Erin Lee Carr’s Mommy Dead and Dearest features several interviews from the real Gypsy Rose Blanchard, and Joey King basically nailed it.

New episodes of The Act premiere on Hulu Wednesdays.

Watch The Act on Hulu