Joey King has spoken out about the release of Gypsy Rose Blanchard after playing the Munchausen syndrome by proxy victim in a series about her life.
Gypsy Rose's life and the lead-up to the murder of her mother, Clauddine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard in 2015, was covered in the Hulu series The Act, which was released in 2019.
Joey took on the role of Gypsy Rose and her powerful performance ended up earning her a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series.
The real-life Gypsy Rose, now 32, was released from prison in December after having served eight years behind bars for her part in the killing of her mom, after helping her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn come up with a plan to stab Dee Dee to death.
Gypsy Rose was sentenced to 10 years behind bars but was released early, while Nicholas received a life sentence without parole.
Joey, 24, spoke out about Gypsy Rose's release during an interaction with photographers in Los Angeles this week, stating as per Too Fab: "I am so happy she is released. I'm so happy for her. She deserves freedom."
The actress added that she has not spoken to Gypsy Rose since her release, and it's also come to light that the real Gypsy Rose has never watched The Act.
She told Access Hollywood that while she'd never seen it, she was impressed with Joey's imitation of her voice, telling the outlet: "I still have not watched The Act, I feel like... I lived it, it was my life, I don't feel like I have to go back and rewatch it played out.
"I'm sure that Joey King did an amazing job playing me, I actually heard an audio clip of her doing my voice and I think she got it spot on.
"But I think honestly not reliving the trauma is the best option for me."
In the same interview, Gypsy Rose also revealed who she'd love to have play her in a future biopic, adding: "It's funny, because I always wanted Millie Bobby Brown to play me. I think she'd be good at playing me. I always had [her] in mind!"
Gypsy Rose's case captured the world's attention after it was revealed that her boyfriend had stabbed Dee Dee after the pair made a plot to end her life.
Although Gypsy Rose did not carry out the killing herself, she had been instrumental in the planning of the crime, having sent Nicholas videos of her mother's bedroom to familiarise him with the layout, as well as stealing the knife that was used as the murder weapon from Walmart.
Gypsy Rose has maintained that she "regrets" her part in her mom's murder, claiming she was desensitized to what she was doing due to the pain medication she was addicted to.
She had taken drastic action to get out of the control of her mother, after Dee Dee had spent her entire young life fabricating serious illnesses she claimed Gypsy Rose suffered from, including leukemia and muscular dystrophy, as well as forcing her to use a wheelchair and feeding tubes, and undergo surgeries and painful interventions she never actually needed, some of which have a lasting impact on her life to this day.
Many details about the shocking case came to light as a result of The Act being released, and the miniseries received critical acclaim, with Patricia Arquette, who played Dee Dee, being awarded an Emmy and Golden Globe for her performance.
While Gypsy Rose may have recently commended Joey's take on her voice in the series, she'd previously voiced her frustration with the show in her new book, Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom.
In it, she wrote, per Too Fab: "The Act brought an onslaught of emails from strangers all over the world. The corrections officers looked at me differently. Inmates wanted my autograph; others asked me for money, assuming being on television means you're rich.
"I still have no frame of reference or context for what led the general viewing public to their hype, because I have never seen The Act.
"I was not consulted or compensated for a show that made actor Joey King a household name."
She also revealed that she'd only watched a short clip of it which was aired during an awards show, adding: "It was so far removed from my reality, it was hard to be sure what I was looking at.
"I just remember seeing Joey glammed out on the red carpet, the stark contrast of our lives casting a dark shadow over me.
"Here I was in my prison cell wearing my prison uniform, eating my disgusting prison food, while Hollywood celebrated itself. All I could think was, 'This girl tried to play me, and I had no control over it.'"
Gypsy Rose had first heard that the series was being made from her stepmom, Kristy, and felt "upset" and confused as to how the show could be made "without even talking to me about it first and asking me one-on-one questions."
She added: "No one asked me if it was okay that they made this about my life."
As Hulu was not available to prison inmates, Gypsy Rose was relieved that nobody that was serving time with her was able to see it either, however, the reaction from the outside world was "like a bomb went off", after she realized that she had become "a celebrity overnight ... for doing something horrible".
