Gypsy Rose Blanchard© ABC 20/20

Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s life after lockup; What is facticious disorder?

She has garnered a hug fan base


Jovita Trujillo - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
DECEMBER 28, 2023 5:18 PM EST

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is officially out of prison and has become a true crime sensation. The 32-year-old woman gained public attention in 2015 when she and her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, murdered her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. 

© ABC 20/20

Dee Dee had Factitious disorder, formerly known as Munchausen syndrome, which is a serious mental disorder where someone deceives others by appearing sick, by purposely getting sick, or by self-injury. It can also happen when family members or caregivers falsely present others, such as children, as being ill, injured, or impaired, per Mayo Clinic.

Dee Dee had been falsely claiming that Gypsy Rose had health issues and was terminally ill, leading to unnecessary and painful medical treatments and interventions. She was wheelchair-bound and subjected to things like feeding tubes.

Gypsy Rose pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was granted parole earlier this year after only seven.

Gypsy Rose’s first hours after prison

Gypsy Rose was picked up from Chillicothe Correctional Center in Chillicothe by her husband, Ryan Scott Anderson, around 3:30 a.m. local time, the Missouri Department of Corrections confirmed to multiple outlets. Anderson emailed her in 2020 after watching the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest and the hit series, The Act. They were married on July 21, 2022, in a small prison ceremony with no guests.

TMZ published photos of Anderson with a cameraman, as she has an upcoming Lifetime Doc. Per DailyMail, he drove her to her first night of freedom at a budget hotel in a Cadillac.

On Thursday Morning, photographers spotted Blanchard and Anderson leaving her hotel room. In photos published by ET, Blanchard was rolling out her luggage and bags of food.

Anderson is a middle school teacher from Louisiana, and they told PEOPLE, they have plans to move there, which is where they could be headed.

As for what next for Gypsy Rose, we know there is a documentary on the way, and she wants to redo her wedding one day, telling the outlet, “with all of our family and our friends and the dress and the cake and everything because we deserve that. I deserve that. He deserves that,” She also wants to be a mother, and have a family, “I have learned what not to do,” she told PEOPLE.