Gypsy Rose Blanchard has opened up about the most painful unnecessary surgery her mom forced her to have, as well as the fact she still suffers side effects of it to this day.
The now-32-year-old has recently been released after serving seven years behind bars for her involvement in the murder of her mother, Clauddine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard, who was brutally stabbed to death by Gypsy Rose's then-boyfriend Nichola Godejohn.
Throughout her childhood, Gypsy Rose had been a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy at the hands of her mother, who fabricated a series of medical conditions she claimed her daughter suffered from, including leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and brain damage.
She forced Gypsy Rose to undergo many painful surgeries and other medical interventions that were never needed, and the young woman is still feeling the effects of some of the procedures she had to this day.
In a new interview, Gypsy Rose revealed that the most painful unnecessary surgery she was made to undergo was to remove two salivary glands behind her neck, which still has an impact on her daily life.
She told People that she "didn't respond very well to the anesthesia", which made the recovery process "really, really hard."
Gypsy Rose added: "To this day, it has left me with the side effects of having to clear my throat all the time. So I'm always, if you hear me, that is a constant thing that I've had ever since. And it annoys people to no end.
"It's because my saliva is very thick and so I'm always having to clear my throat. So it's been a negative side effect for me.
"And the reason why I had that surgery is because my mother had put [Orajel] on my gums to make me drool at the appointment and complain to the doctor that [I drool] too much."
She revealed that she would ask her mother if the procedures were necessary when they were away from doctors, but that led to further emotional abuse from Dee Dee.
"She would get really, really upset with me and start manipulating me in a way that she would take her love from me," Gypsy Rose explained.
Gypsy Rose revealed that her teenage years were a "rollercoaster" where things could be "really good" in her relationship with her mother when she was being "submissive" to Dee Dee.
In the nice moments, the pair would do things together such as watch movies or go to the zoo, or simply have bonding moments going around their home town.
However, things would soon turn sour if Gypsy Rose questioned her mom's insistence that there was something wrong with her health, adding: "And then I'd be a little bit more rebellious and question the sicknesses, and then that would be really, really toxic.
"I tried my best to be respectful, but sometimes it was very hard, so I would raise my voice, too. But she would call me things like b****, w****, s***, devil spawn. So all these terms really, really took an emotional and a mental toll on me."
Dee Dee's life came to an end in 2015 when she was murdered by Nicholas Godejohn, whom Gypsy Rose had met on a dating site.
The couple conspired to kill Dee Dee, with Gypsy Rose letting Nicholas into their home and hiding in the bathroom while he brutally stabbed her mom to death, before the then-couple ran away together.
Dee Dee was found dead in a pool of her own blood days later and Nicholas and Gypsy Rose were tracked down in Wisconsin, where they'd taken a bus to in the days after the killing.
Gypsy Rose was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her involvement in the crime, but was released at the end of December 2023 after serving seven years. Nicholas was handed a life sentence for the murder.
Now a free woman, Gypsy Rose will tell her story in Liftetime's docuseries The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, which airs for three nights from January 5.
Gypsy Rose said in the trailer: "As a survivor of relentless child abuse, this docuseries chronicles my quest for liberation and journey through self-discovery. I am unapologetically myself and unafraid to expose the hidden parts of my life that have never been revealed until now."
