Gypsy Rose Blanchard is finally talking about her life after prison, without the glittery filter of social media.
Despite her fame reaching new heights upon her release from jail, Blanchard has given a new interview on her knowledge of her mother's abuse and whether she has regrets about how it all turned out.
The 32-year-old spent eight years in prison following her involvement in the murder of her mother Dee Dee Blanchard. Gypsy had persuaded an online boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill her mother.
The case grew international attention after it was revealed that Dee Dee had essentially kept her daughter prisoner, forcing her to use a wheelchair and feeding tube. Dee Dee had made Gypsy pretend for years that she was suffering from serious illnesses.
Investigators determined that Dee Dee had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which parents or caregivers seek sympathy through the exaggerated or made-up illnesses of their children.
Now that she's served her sentence, Gypsy is sharing her story.
Celebrating new docuseries Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up, released on June 3, she sat down on UK breakfast show, This Morning, telling host Josie Gibson that the impact of her crime weighs on her every day, despite being punished for it.
"I have lots of regrets. Lots of things I would change. Obviously the big one, that goes without saying," she said candidly.
"But that's on my conscience, I have to live with that on a daily basis. Yes, I did my time, I did eight years, but that was a prison sentence.
"The emotional and mental regret that I have to live with goes for the rest of my life," she said.
Asked why she didn't expose her mother Dee Dee's actions to authorities sooner, Blanchard says it was because at the time she didn't realise just how far the abuse had gone.
"I didn't know the extent of the abuse myself. Some things were very obvious like the physical abuse. But there was other things on the medical abuse side of it that, if it wasn't very visual..." she trailed off.
"My mother said I had cancer. You know, you can't see cancer. My mother was telling myself and others that I was on cancer medication. So there were things like those little things that I didn't even know until upon arrest, after the crime."
Ever since she was released from prison, people have accused Gypsy of seeking out fame, especially after she appeared on reality show, The Kardashians. She wants to set the record straight.
"It's been a whirlwind for the last five months. I've gone through a lot of changes in my every day life, in my love life and in my home life. The last five months have been quite an adjustment," she said.
"Sharing my story was a very selfless thing that I'm doing...As for The Kardashians, that was to talk about prison reform—so again another selfless act. That wasn't for any attention but to highlight what prisoners go through on a daily basis.
"We [Kim and I] are similar in the ways of labels get put on her and labels get put on me and so to see the woman behind the label, I was actually surprised she was so down to earth and relatable."
Following her mother's murder, Gypsy accepted a plea bargain agreement in 2016 for 10 years and the charge of second-degree murder.
Despite being in prison, Gypsy said her years behind bars were constructive and she was "thriving". She also received her high school diploma, studied photography and found a new sense of autonomy.
"The prison that I was living in before, with my mum - I couldn't walk. I couldn't eat. I couldn't have friends. I feel like I'm freer in prison than living with my mum. I guess now I'm allowed to just live like a normal woman," she told ABC News.
Watch: Gypsy Rose Blanchard speaks to Dr Phil. Post continues below.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard's life now.
Despite spending eight years in prison, Gypsy managed to find herself a husband. Ryan Scott Anderson - a 37-year-old special education teacher from Louisiana - married Gypsy in June 2022, as per the wedding certificate.
When Gypsy was released from prison, it was Anderson who was waiting for her. News outlets did take note of the car he was driving - specifically the car's license plate. Anderson had a wrestling-themed Bret Hart plate that read "HITMAN."
Speaking with PEOPLE at the time, Anderson said the pair were originally pen pals before they began a long-distance relationship. He said that he started communicating with Gypsy in 2020, after making a bet with one of his colleagues.
"My co-worker at the time was like 'I want to write Tiger King'," he recounted, referring to convicted felon Joseph "Joe Exotic" Maldonado whose case rose to fame on the Netflix show Tiger King.
"I said, 'I'll tell you what, if you write him, I'll write Gypsy Rose Blanchard. I never thought she'd be my wife."
After exchanging emails for a while, and then speaking on the phone, Anderson said he felt sympathy for what Gypsy had gone through and he said he started feeling "butterflies". Gypsy felt the same.
"My husband Ryan has been an emotional backbone for the last three years. Ryan has seen me through some really good times, some really hard times. I would say that he is probably the most compassionate soul that I've ever met, and the most patient," Gypsy said to PEOPLE recently.
"God knows, he's so patient with me, because I could be a lot to handle. I could be an emotional handful."
Sadly, things didn't work out for the couple and they parted ways just three months after Gypsy was declared a free woman.
Gypsy has also managed to build a stronger relationship with her birth father, who she says she didn't get to see during her childhood - mostly due to Dee Dee.
Her father, Rod Blanchard, and her stepmother had been by her side throughout the criminal case, and said they were looking forward to continuing the relationship outside of prison too.
"We email each other. She can call me anytime and she does. I'm keeping tabs on all of her accomplishments in school. She's getting her GED," Rod Blanchard told Fox. "It's wonderful. I can't wait for her to get out so we can build on that foundation that we started here."
Although Rod said he wanted his daughter to wait until after her release to get married, he did support her union with Anderson.
Gypsy has always been open about her desire to start a family but noted that she does not want to treat her kids anyway near how she was treated by Dee Dee.
"It's hard because I'm going into a new life, and I'm going to have kids one day, and I'm going to have to explain to my kids why their grandmother on mummy's side isn't around. And that's going to be a really hard conversation," she said this week.
"Nobody will ever hear me say I'm glad she's dead or I'm proud of what I did. I regret it every single day. 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 behaviour."
This article was originally published on December 29, 2023, and has since been updated with new information.
Feature Image: Instagram/@gypsyrose_a_blanchard.
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