After serving an eight-year-long sentence for second-degree murder, Gypsy Rose Blanchard experienced liberation December 28, 2023. The media anticipated her release date, as they believe she should not have received jail time for encouraging her ex-boyfriend to kill her mother. Though Gypsy did not deserve to live under authoritarian rule by her mother, people should not forget the severity of her actions.
Those who admire Gypsy believe the criminal justice system wrongly accused her and believe that she deserves freedom after dealing with abuse throughout her childhood. But, because Gypsy knew she could walk, she could have revealed Clauddine (Dee Dee) Blanchard’s truths to the public or even contacted the police. Instead, she decided to take the violent route and give someone else the responsibility of killing her mother.
“I’m glad Gypsy is free because what her mother put her through was terrible. Seeing her life on Instagram and TikTok makes me happy. I do feel bad for her ex-boyfriend because I feel like he should be freed too,” senior Sunna Alam said.
Born in 1991, Blanchard grew up in Springfield, Missouri with her mother, Dee Dee. At eight years old, Dee Dee claimed that Gypsy suffered from leukemia and muscular dystrophy, and she required a wheelchair and feeding tube. Gypsy used a multitude of medications for years as a result of her mother’s claims. Since Dee Dee wanted to sell the act of Gypsy’s illness—she shaved Gypsy’s hair so people would believe Gypsy suffered from cancer. Experts believe that Dee Dee suffered from a mental illness known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, resulting in her falsifying Gypsy’s health to receive attention from others.
In 2011, Gypsy joined a Christian dating site, where she met Nick Godejohn. As they expressed feelings for each other and shared a deep connection, she told him about her mother’s actions and asked him to kill Dee Dee so that her mother could not interfere with their relationship. In June 2015, he came to her house and stabbed Dee Dee while Gypsy waited in the bathroom. Immediately after Godejohn murdered Dee Dee, he and Gypsy returned to his home in Wisconsin. Gypsy posted on Facebook stating, “That b— is dead.” Her neighbors saw the post, leading them to discover Dee Dee’s body. Soon after, the police found the couple at their Wisconsin home.
Godejohn received a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole, while Gypsy received a sentence of ten years in prison. However, she only served eight years due to receiving parole this past December. The criminal justice system failed Godejohn by granting him a heavier sentence than Gypsy.
Gypsy felt as if she tried to help Godejohn in his 2018 trial by testifying that she had come up with the plan to kill Dee Dee. Now, however, she does not appear to feel sympathy toward Godejohn and wants to move on with her new life. Gypsy even found a husband in 2022 while in prison. Ryan Anderson wrote her a letter in 2020, and after several emails back and forth, Gypsy married him two years later.
Instead of people holding Gypsy accountable, they idolize her for her efforts. Gypsy has gained over nine million followers on TikTok, appeared on The View and has given a handful of exclusive interviews. Although Gypsy and Godejhohn both contributed to the greatest act of violence, Gypsy can live a happy life, free from a prison cell. Gypsy regrets taking the violent route and reflects on her actions, but that still does not change what she did.
“She was a sick woman, and unfortunately, I wasn’t educated enough to see that. She deserved to be where I am, sitting in prison doing time for criminal behavior. 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 said.
