ABC
Gypsy Rose Blanchard is opening up about her time in prison, telling the world she feels out of sorts now that she’s free while claiming she only killed her mom, Dee Dee, to get out of her precarious situation.
Blanchard sat down for her first interview that aired Friday on “Good Morning America” after her release last week from Missouri’s Chillicothe Correctional Center, where she served 8 years of her 10-year sentence.
In the wide-ranging interview, Blanchard first reminisced about what it was like to step out of the penitentiary after so many years, saying she “felt a little bit like I was dropped in a different world because you don’t realize how much you’re restricted in prison.”
She added, “I felt like I was in a black-and-white world and I just stepped into technicolor. It was amazing.”
Gypsy then discussed what led to her incarceration, accusing Dee Dee of abuse for subjecting her to unnecessary surgeries and parading her around in a wheelchair with a feeding tube when she wasn’t even sick.
Medical professionals determined that Blanchard was a victim of a condition known as “Munchausen syndrome by proxy,” where a parent tries to gain sympathy by falsely claiming their child is ill.
Blanchard told ‘GMA’ reporter Deborah Roberts that life with her mom in Springfield, MO, was similar to prison, which was actually less restrictive. She said, “Honestly [it] wasn’t that much of a difference. But I also had more freedom in prison than I ever had with my mother.”
Roberts then showed Blanchard a photo of herself when she was younger, prompting the now 32-year-old to respond, “I don’t even associate with that little girl anymore. Like, I know that’s me. But at the same time, that isn’t me anymore.”
Blanchard said she didn’t think her mom was a “monster” despite public perception, explaining, “She had a lot of demons herself that she was struggling with. I didn’t want her dead. I just wanted out of my situation. And I thought that was the only way out.”
She also addressed her co-defendant and former boyfriend in the case, Nicholas Godejohn, who was convicted of fatally stabbing Dee Dee on Blanchard’s orders and is currently serving a life term. Blanchard said, “I’m sure that we both have a lot of regrets. All I can really say is that I did my time. He’s doing his time for his part. And I wish him well on his journey.”
