Nearly a year after her release from prison, 33-year-old Gypsy Rose Blanchard, released her memoir, “My Time to Stand.” The book delves into the alleged abuse she claims to have endured growing up under the control of her late mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
The “Life After Lockup” star previously said that writing the memoir gave her an opportunity to “examine” her “life, actions, and relationships in great breadth and depth,” as she reflected on her past and put her memories to paper.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard also acknowledged taking various measures of self-protection leading up to her mother’s death in 2015.
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Gypsy Rose Blanchard Gets Candid In Her New Memoir
Gypsy reportedly tried to run away multiple times during her childhood and teenage years. However, Dee Dee maintained tight control over her, using lies, manipulation, and medical abuse to keep Gypsy dependent on her.
“I was 23 and had tried to run away twice,” Gypsy revealed in her memoir. “I’d shot her with a BB gun. I was getting older and much harder to control.”
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She explained that her mother—whom she has accused of subjecting her to Munchausen syndrome by proxy—continued to tighten her control over her life. “She’d chained me to the bed,” Gypsy continued to explain in her book. “The older I got, the more physical and harsher her punishments became. She stopped letting me use my custom-made Jazzy HD power wheelchair because she couldn’t control it. I sensed she was becoming more erratic, more desperate.”
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Gypsy Rose Claims Her Mom ‘Muzzled’ Her Mouth Shut
“She muzzled my mouth shut at nighttime, with a CPAP machine for my fake sleep apnea,” Gypsy detailed. “It was so unpleasant to sleep that way; it felt like someone was taking a bicycle tire pump and forcing a ceaseless stream of air up my nose. She numbed my mouth with Orajel, so I’d drool and slur; she was responsible for my teeth falling out due to side effects of superfluous medications.”
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Gypsy Rose Blanchard Planned The Murder Of Her Mother
In 2015, Gypsy, along with her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn, planned and carried out the murder of her mother. “I went to the bathroom, sat on the floor and covered my ears. Except I heard. I heard everything,” she wrote in her book. “Nick entered the room soundlessly because there was no bedroom door, so when she finally woke up it must have been because he was standing over her, not because of any noise. She was startled.”
“I just heard the screaming,” she added. “And then I lay in the fetal position with my hands pressed hard over my ears. But I could still hear things.”
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Arrest records indicate that Dee Dee was stabbed 17 times in the back while she slept. The records also reveal that following the attack in Gypsy’s room, Gypsy and Godejohn stole more than $4,400 from the house. The couple then checked into a motel outside Springfield, Missouri, where the murder occurred, to determine their next steps.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard Shares Disturbing Post On Facebook
The police ultimately caught Gypsy after a shocking post appeared on Dee Dee’s Facebook page that read, “That B-tch is dead!” Initially, many of Dee Dee’s friends and followers assumed her account had been hacked. “What is going on?” one comment read as another wrote, “WHAT?!!! Did your FB get hacked? I have never heard you talk like that.”
After being notified, officers conducted a welfare check and found Dee Dee’s body inside the home. Evidence suggested Dee Dee had been dead for several days.
Investigators quickly traced the Facebook post to an IP address in Big Bend, Wisconsin. They also uncovered evidence that Gypsy and Godejohn had been communicating online for years and had recently planned the murder through text messages.
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Police tracked Gypsy and Godejohn to Godejohn’s home in Wisconsin, where both were taken into custody. Investigators were initially stunned to discover that Gypsy was in good health, as Dee Dee had falsely presented her as severely ill and physically disabled. Godejohn was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard Goes To Trial
During her trial, she testified that she saw murder as her only way to escape, as her prior attempts to run away or seek help had been unsuccessful. She detailed how she and Godejohn coordinated the plan through text messages, which investigators later recovered as evidence.
She ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the crime, while her then-boyfriend, Godejohn, was charged with first-degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence.
