Self-defense or premeditated murder? That’s one of the major questions asked in this case. The story of daughter Gypsy Rose who murdered her mother Dee Dee Blancharde for forcing her to feign illness her entire life.
Dee Dee Blancharde’s bizarre behavior is attributed to Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy — a controversial psychological condition in which a caretaker pretends that the person they are caring for is sick when, in fact, he/she is not. Often times diagnosed in adult women who’ve had a long history of abuse, Munchausen’s by proxy is considered to be one of the worst forms of child abuse. And behind closed doors, Dee Dee was committing just that. Never wanting to part with her daughter, she even made her daughter sleep with her every night. Dee Dee was giving Gypsy seizure medication that caused her teeth to fall out, forcing her to sit in a wheelchair, and if she tried to walk at home with no help she would be beaten with a coat hanger. The mother even went as far as shaving her head daughters head. When Gypsy asked why she said “It’s gonna fall out anyways, we gotta keep it neat”. If Gypsy disobeyed, her mother would say stuff like “I wish i’d had an abortion”. What a terrible thing to say to a child of any age. Oh yeah not to mention Gypsy also didn’t know her real age for a long time. Neither did any one else but her mother most likely.
Embracing the pity of the world, Dee Dee and Gypsy were accepting financial donations and free trips to Walt Disney, courtesy of charities like the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Churches everywhere gave them donations and did every thing they could to help. Habitat for Humanity even paid for and built their house and wheel chair ramp. THAT SHE DIDN’T FUCKING NEED! She made them put in a feeding tube for no reason at all, Gypsy could eat perfectly fine. Keep in mind that having a feeding tube takes maintenance by that I mean the pain of changing the tube every 6 months and keeping it clean. She made her daughter go through surgeries and all sorts of awful shit for financial gain and attention. According to Dee Dee, her poor little girl was dying from multiple ailments like leukemia and muscular dystrophy, but in reality, Gypsy was growing in vindictive bitterness. The list goes on and on…
By the time she reached her early 20s, Gypsy found her way out of Dee Dee’s deceptive madness: she met a young man, Nicholas Godejohn, through an online dating site, and with his help, stabbed her mother to death.
On June 15, 2015 Dee Dee and Gypsy’s joint Facebook account published a post that shockingly read: “that B*tch is Dead!” After authorities found 48-year-old Dee Dee’s body in her Wisconsin home, they were able to trace the murderous couple back to Wisconsin. Gypsy is currently serving a 10-year sentence at a correctional facility in Ohio. Nicholas Godejohn faces life in prison with no possibility of parole in the murder of Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
Through photos, interviews, and exclusive one-on-ones with Gypsy herself, HBO’s Mommy Dead and Dearest explores how a seemingly happy mother-daughter relationship could harbor a nightmare of deception and turn so dead wrong. Do I think the mother was nuts, hell yes! No they shouldn’t have stabbed the crazy bitch but maybe alert someone who could’ve helped.
https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/mommy-dead-and-dearest