Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who was convicted of the brutal murder of her abusive mother, expressed regret ahead of her early release from prison.
In an exclusive interview with People,
Blanchard, 32, who will be released early from a Missouri prison on Dec. 28, spoke openly about conspiring to kill her mother Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard with her then-boyfriend Nicholas “Nick” Godejohn, who carried out the murder.
“I was desperate to get out of that situation,” she said.
However, she also expressed remorse over her decision and shared what she would do differently now.
“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,” Blanchard explained. “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.'”
She admitted she does “kind of struggle with that.”
“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,” Blanchard stated.
In September, she was granted parole, two years before the end of her 10-year sentence for second-degree murder.
In July 2016, Blanchard pleaded guilty to her part in the murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Godejohn, 32, was charged with first-degree murder for stabbing Blanchard’s mother to death and was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder without the possibility of parole, according to the People.
Following her arrest, she was discovered to be a victim of Munchausen by proxy syndrome, a form of child abuse where “the caretaker of a child, most often a mother, either makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick,” according to Medline Plus.
According to People, “Dee Dee” Blanchard fabricated her daughter’s illnesses, claiming she had leukemia, epilepsy, and muscular dystrophy by the time Blanchard was 7 years old.
As a result, she was required by her mother to use a wheelchair although she had no issues walking, had painful feeding tubes inserted into her, and her head was shaved due to the lie by her mother that she had leukemia. “Dee Dee” Blanchard was able to deceive family, friends, and doctors into believing her daughter was ill.
“Obviously I knew that I could walk and didn’t need a feeding tube, but everything else was a really big confusion for me,” she shared.
Speaking about her alleged epilepsy diagnosis, Blanchard said, “Whenever I’d question it, my mother would say I’d had a seizure the night before and didn’t remember. There was always an excuse.”
Additionally, she spoke about her mother’s reaction when she would stand up for herself.
“I would voice concerns, being like, ‘I really don’t feel like I need this,’ and she would get really, really upset with me and start manipulating me,” she said.
Blanchard recalled her mother manipulating her with presents when she was younger.
“She’d say ‘If you do well at the hospital then we’re going to Toys ‘R’ Us to buy a new Barbie,'” she shared.
During her interview, she urged others who are also in an abusive environment to not follow in her footsteps.
“I want to make sure that people in abusive relationships do not resort to murder,” she said. “It may seem like every avenue is closed off but there is always another way. Do anything, but don’t take this course of action.”
Speaking about her release, Blanchard, who found love and married Lousiana teacher Ryan Anderson, 37, while in prison, told People she is “on the eve of happiness.”
Nonetheless, she is still coming to terms with her dark past despite years of self-work, reflection, and therapy.
“It’s a journey. I’m still really trying to come to a place of forgiveness for her, for myself and the situation. I still love my mom,” she said.
She continued, “And I’m starting to understand that it was something that was maybe out of her control, like an addict with an impulse. That helps me with coping and accepting what happened.”
