Gypsy Rose Blanchard, whose harrowing story is set to air on Lifetime's documentary series, The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, is shedding light on her traumatic past, marked by her mother's Munchausen by proxy abuse.
In an interview with People, Gypsy Rose, now 32, shared her ongoing struggle to find forgiveness for her mother and herself while coming to terms with the traumatic situation she endured.
She is "really, really trying to come to a place of forgiveness for her, for myself and the situation," Gypsy Rose told the outlet,
Dee Dee, her mother, subjected her to extensive unnecessary medical treatments and deceived both Gypsy Rose and others into believing that she suffered from numerous illnesses during her childhood.
Check out this sneak peek of The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard:In court, it was argued that Gypsy Rose was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a form of child abuse characterized by a guardian exaggerating or inducing illness to elicit sympathy.
"It's a journey, but I'm starting to feel more forgiveness in understanding that it is something that maybe was out of her control," Gypsy Rose told People. "Maybe it was like an addict with an impulse, and that it was not consciously malicious. And I think that helps me with coping and accepting what happened."
Gypsy Rose's story will be featured in Lifetime's upcoming documentary, which airs on January 5, 6, and 7 at 8PM ET/PT.
She spoke to People just before her recent release from the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri, where she served over eight years in prison for her involvement in the plot to murder her mother, Dee Dee, alongside her then-boyfriend Nicholas "Nick" Godejohn.
Godejohn carried out the fatal stabbing, while Gypsy hid in the bathroom of their home.
Reflecting on her mother's Munchausen by proxy syndrome, Gypsy Rose expressed her belief that it was a psychological issue and that her mother's diagnosis of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, left untreated, played a significant role.
She said, "Perhaps, if maybe she was on her meds, maybe things would've been different. But I can't focus on the 'could have, should have, would have,' because I'll get too deep into that rabbit hole. But I think that's why it's so important for me now to take what has happened, and the choice that I made to commit murder was never the right choice."
Despite the torment she endured, Gypsy Rose asserted that her mother did not deserve her ultimate fate, saying, "She was a sick woman, and unfortunately I wasn't educated enough to see that. She deserved to be where I am, sitting in prison doing time for criminal behavior."
Gypsy Rose's guilty plea in 2016 resulted in a 10-year prison sentence, while Godejohn, 32, received a life sentence without parole in 2019 following his conviction for first-degree murder.
In a significant turn of events, Gypsy Rose found love and married Ryan Scott Anderson, a special education teacher from Louisiana, while behind bars last year, giving her hope and a sense of normalcy amidst her tumultuous past.
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