Just after she was released from prison, Gypsy Rose Blanchard was welcomed with open arms by her family during a special homecoming party.
In a series of photos posted on TikTok, Gypsy Rose appears with her family as they welcome her home after she served seven years in prison for the murder of her mother, Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard. Gypsy had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was granted early parole in September.
Gypsy Rose had conspired to kill Dee Dee with her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, who had stabbed her mother repeatedly in their Springfield, Missouri home on June 9, 2015. The motive was to help Gypsy Rose escape from her mother’s abusive behavior. Dee Dee had put Gypsy Rose through Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy. She convinced others that her daughter had multiple illnesses to gain attention for herself. Dee Dee said Gypsy Rose not only had cancer but had the mentality of a seven-year-old due to being born prematurely.
Dee Dee had forced Gypsy Rose to use a wheelchair and oxygen tanks, which she didn’t need. Gypsy Rose also told Dr. Phil McGraw in 2017 that Dee Dee shaved her head. She also forced her to eat through a feeding tube.
However, Gypsy Rose Blanchard has regrets about Dee Dee’s murder. “Nobody will ever hear me say I’m glad she’s dead or I’m proud of what I did,” she told PEOPLE. “She didn’t deserve that.”
Gypsy Rose also said that her mother was a sick woman. “Unfortunately I wasn’t educated enough to see that. She deserved to be where I am, sitting in prison doing time for criminal behavior.”
Gypsy Rose Blanchard Stated She Was Desperate to Get Away From Her Mother
Before her release from prison, Gypsy Rose Blanchard revealed why she ultimately decided to plot her mother’s murder.
“I was desperate to get out of that situation,” she told PEOPLE. “If I had another chance to redo everything, I don’t know if I would go back to when I was a child and tell my aunts and uncles that I’m not sick and mommy makes me sick. Or if I would travel back to just the point of that conversation with Nick and tell him, ‘You know what, I’m going to go tell the police everything.’ I kind of struggle with that.”
Gypsy Rose Blanchard also said that she spent years in the “dark” about her health conditions. “Obviously, I knew that I could walk and didn’t need a feeding tube,” she said. “But everything else was a really big confusion for me.”