The Act: What Happened To Gypsy Rose Blanchard

Hulu’s The Act is a true crime drama about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard by her daughter and abuse victim Gypsy Rose Blanchard. But where is the real Gypsy Rose today? The Blanchard’s story is relatively well-known to the public at this point. Dee Dee’s death in 2015 revealed the fame she and her daughter shared due to her daughter’s many illnesses was based on a lie. Dee Dee most likely suffered from Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, and fabricated numerous fake disorders and illnesses for her completely healthy daughter, many of which were treated by actual healthcare professionals and Dee Dee herself.

Gypsy Rose supposedly had chromosomal defects ranging from severe allergies to muscular dystrophy. She used a feeding tube and a wheelchair, and she had several unnecessary surgeries at different points in her life. Despite none of her illnesses being true, the Blanchards gained a small measure of fame and material benefit from the ruse. But eventually, Gypsy Rose, essentially a captive in her mother’s care, conspired with her boyfriend to murder Dee Dee, at which point the two were arrested and the truth came to light. The Act covers those events, as well as Gypsy Rose’s trial after the fact, all of which occurred in the last few years.

Today, the real Gypsy Rose Blanchard is serving a 10-year sentence for second-degree murder in Chillicothe Correctional Center in Green County, Missouri, where she’ll remain until at least 2024 when she will become eligible for parole. She’ll be 33 years old at that point. Her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, who physically carried out the murder, is currently serving a life sentence in Fulton Reception & Diagnostic Center in Fulton, Missouri.

When the details of Gypsy Rose’s case emerged, many people – including Michelle Dead, The Act producer and author of the original 2016 Buzzfeed article upon which the series is based – don’t think Blanchard should be serving time, or at least as much, given the abuse she endured at the hands of her mother. But speaking to A&E in 2019, Gypsy Rose’s father, Rod Blanchard, cited there simply being a lack of precedent for victims of Munchausen’s by proxy to have killed their abusers. Also, because Dee Dee Blanchard died before her treatment of Gypsy was brought to light, she was never properly diagnosed. That said, Rod Blanchard did say that, despite having some bad days, Gypsy Rose is optimistic in prison and studying to get her GED. She has a job taking pictures of visitors who come to the prison and she’s also engaged to a man she met via pen pal.

But despite her participation in the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, as well as her father and stepmother, have been vocal in their opposition to The Act. She hasn’t seen the series, but Gypsy Rose has said via email that she believes it’s “unprofessional” that Hulu and Dean have used her name and story without her permission (via Bustle). She’s stated her intent to take legal action against the streaming network for producing The Act without her life rights or her consent. So far, neither Hulu nor Dean have responded publicly to the Blanchards’ accusations.

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