The Gypsy Rose Obsession | From PRETEND

Guaranteed human.

“On August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died.”

Then, the rumors started, and she died again.

And now, we're going to set the record straight, and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died. The third way. I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast Hollywood land, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history.

Separating the myths people want to believe from the reality underneath them. Hollywood land is part of the exactly right network. Listen to new episodes every Monday on the "I Heart Radio" Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for listening to Deep Cover The Family Man. Listen to and follow Deep Cover on Amazon Music, or just ask. Alexa, play the podcast Deep Cover on Amazon Music. Also, with Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now listen to your favorite music, podcasts,

“and audiobooks, all in the Amazon Music app.”

Pushkin. I actually have no idea where we're going with this, but... I don't either. I was like, "I wanted to hop on a call with you, because I'm like, "What is this about?"

You really can't mistake that voice. Gipsy Rose Blanchard somehow became the most beloved convicted murderer in America.

Half of the country loves her. The other half never forgave her.

Maybe you've watched the HBO documentary "Mommy Dead" in the wrist. Gipsy was in a wheelchair. She had leukemia. She was having seizures, and she had to be too fit. And then gradually, that story fell apart. Things were not always as they appeared.

Or maybe you discovered her story from the Hulu series "The Act." I was like, "Oh, she wants to do this, Kim Yeezy." Gipsy!

“Well, you could have bingeed her reality TV show on Lifetime.”

I don't want people to look at, like, this is Gipsy Rose. She's famous. I don't care. I feel like her mother. She shouldn't be famous for something like that. Exactly. I hate that effort, famous. Chances are, you just kept seeing her face pop up on your for you page.

I went to prison for eight and a half years, because my own mom, "Oh, my God." Or maybe you've been living under a rock, and don't know who the heck I'm talking about. So here's the short version. Gipsy Rose Blanchard spent 23 years in a wheelchair. He hooked up to a feeding tube, breathing machine, had her teeth yanked out,

put under for surgeries that she never needed.

Told she had cancer, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, leukemia, you name it. Turns out that was the cure, because when police found her, she had walked out of the house on her own, and all those health issues. Poof, they were gone. I've been incarcerated for eight and a half years.

I will be released on Thursday. In December of 2023, Gipsy Rose Blanchard walked out of a Missouri prison after serving less than 10 years for the murder of her mother. In America, lost its mind. People were curious, like genuinely curious.

Her TikTok and social media accounts blew up millions of followers, just within days of her release. So yeah, America's sweetheart is also a convicted murderer, and depending on who you ask, she's either the most sympathetic person alive,

or the most dangerous woman on the Internet. You know, Gipsy Rose Blanchard, right? Yeah. Okay, it's all a lie. What do you love her, Gipsy Rose?

The fact that her mom did all that to her and like made her get these surgeries, and like, all of it, it was just a deep inch, but it's all a lie. How long do you guys think it'll take for everyone

to turn Gipsy Rose Blanchard? Because you guys love her right now. Like that's just like win. Have you guys seen all the backlash? She should've kept her locked up.

No shit. Y'all were the ones that tried to make her famous. For ending her mother's life. Someone else is going to do something horrible. And there's Gipsy Rose going to be,

well, she got away with it. We'll now look at all the money that she's making off of it. The official story, the one that the media told us, is that Gipsy Rose Blanchard is a survivor. A victim of one of the most extreme cases

of medical child abuse this country has ever seen.

30 different medical procedures forced upon her

by her mother, DD Blanchard. Pick a disease, any disease.

“Chances are that DD told a doctor that Gipsy had it.”

Rare diseases like chronic conditions, terminal diagnosis. By the time Gipsy was eight years old, her mother had checked nearly every box on that list. And the doctors believed it.

Because why wouldn't they? She showed up with a bald kid in a wheelchair who couldn't walk, couldn't eat, could barely function without her mother right there. And I've combed through Gipsy's medical records,

which were posted publicly on a true crime content

creator's Patreon page. Her mother, DD, claimed that Gipsy had already been through four high surgeries. To correct across the eye, the kept coming back. A feeding tube inserted directly into her stomach

“because DD said that Gipsy couldn't swallow properly.”

A procedure to remove her saliva glands in her neck because DD said that Gipsy drooled too much. And a surgery where surgeons literally wrap part of your stomach around your esophagus to stop acid reflex. All of this on a little kid.

The medication list and the same records run over a page. Anti-seager drugs, as she's been on since she was three months old. Valium for pain delivered through her feeding tube. As my inhalers, steroids, allergy medications. And then there's this one.

Someone documented in her allergy list that Gipsy had an anaphylactic reaction to processed sugar. Anaphylactic reaction to processed sugar

as in sugar, the thing that's in basically every food on earth,

a life-threatening allergic reaction to sugar is not a real medical condition. It doesn't exist.

“But somehow, it made it into her medical chart”

because DD said so and nobody questioned it. And the teeth, by the time Gipsy was a teenager, her teeth had rotted out and had to be removed. A young girl wearing false teeth, writing around with a shaved head in a wheelchair,

that's the official story. But an entire community online decided that that was a lie. They flipped the whole narrative around. Suddenly, it was Gipsy, who was the manipulator. Gipsy, who fooled the doctors.

Gipsy, who used her voice, her looks, her tears, to con everyone around her, including her mother. Let me tell you, this community is not small. They're very loud. I've spent the last few months trying to figure out

which side was telling the truth. And spoiler alert, it's a lot more complicated than either side wants to admit. You are listening to the Gipsy Rose obsession. I'm Havier Leyva, and this is pretend.

Stories about real people, pretending to be someone else. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast Hollywood land, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history. Separating the myths people want to believe from the reality underneath them. Like, how the story of Marilyn Monroe

isn't just the story of a Hollywood icon. Marilyn Monroe has become so iconic that her death can only be explained through conspiracy theories. And for some fans who can't let go, these stories have metastasized from conjecture to accept it fact.

So on August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started, and she died again. And now, we're going to set the record straight. And learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died. The third way.

Learn more about what happens when fame, media obsession, and conspiracy collide. Listen to Hollywood land on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. [Music]

I was completely oblivious to the Alchry against Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

That poor girl. I can't even imagine what her childhood was like. I mean, I didn't agree with her decision to murder her mother, because no one deserves to be murdered. But I can't imagine why she resorted to violence.

I just assumed everyone felt that way about her. But boy, was I wrong. Hello, it's Andrew Dunlop, and today, on Nobody Should Believe Me, we have a very special episode that is a full circle moment for me by conversation with Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

Andrew Dunlop released a two-part interview with Gypsy on her podcast. Nobody should believe me.

If you've never listened to nobody should believe me,

check it out, because Andrea has seven powerful series bringing munchausen victim stories to light.

“I remember a lot of people asking me, "Are you going to interview her?”

Like, why hasn't she been on your show?" Honestly, I can believe that it took seven seasons for Andrea to interview Gypsy. Because Gypsy Rose Blanchard put munchausen by proxy on the map. I didn't even know munchausen by proxy was a thing until I heard about Gypsy's case.

Gypsy's case has brought a lot of awareness. I think that she is actually a very articulate representative of it and is very thoughtful in the way that she sort of explains it and explains her healing process in the after effects. When people think about medical child abuse,

they think of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. She's the poster child. This should not be on Gypsy shoulder. She's a person. We should not put the onus on one person to be a representative or an advocate for a form of abuse

just because they've experienced it. You know, I was curious about Andrea's interview with Gypsy so I listened. And then I started reading the comments and whole boy. I cannot believe the backlash.

Let me read some of these comments to you. Are you kidding me? You call yourself an advocate but decide to bring a murder on your podcast? I can't sit by as we make martyrs out of murderers.

As a long time listener, I'm extremely disappointed by the lack of real research on Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Andrea, all your credibility has done shot out the window. You just ruined your career by not doing your research. She lied about everything.

Hundreds of comments just like this.

This was my first exposure to the anti Gypsy community.

So I started going down that rabbit hole. What research were these people talking about?

“What were Andrea and I missing from this conversation?”

And before I knew it, I found myself in the deep end. Every single thing you've ever heard out of their mouths about this is a lie. Okay, so for all these years we've been told this story of just mass of abuse. She didn't need any of the things that were done to her. And along lasting effects, all of that correct.

That's a lie. That's all a lie. Suddenly I started seeing some questionable things online and asking myself the same questions in consistencies in her stories. Home videos that nobody was supposed to see.

A version of Gypsy Rose Blanchard that looked nothing like the girl that I thought I knew. It was enough for me to pop the bricks. Did we all get the Gypsy story wrong? Was everything I knew about this case a lie? So I had to go straight to the source.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Gypsy and I exchanged a few emails and within a few hours, I'm not kidding. We were on a call. I was unprepared for this conversation and it took place very early on in my research. I have to be honest.

I thought she was lovely. All I know about you is the HBO doc, right? And so I was like, I had no idea that there was this like other world. It's like you're living it, but I had no idea. It's insane.

It's called the Gypsy first.

Oh, like the verse, like the Marvel verse. Yes, like the Marvel verse. So it's two communities and one is pro Gypsy and one is anti Gypsy. Which one's louder? I mean, I would say that the anti Gypsy side is probably the loudest.

“And I think that goes for any sort of hate or community.”

So a lot of times if someone posts a video in support or just having a neutral opinion. You can't even have a neutral opinion about me because you will get death threats. You're walking into the crosshair. Yeah, you're walking into literally a war zone between these two communities. And without even knowing it, right?

Because if you're in the pro Gypsy verse, you're sympathetic to the abuse of your face and all that stuff.

Right.

“The internet did what the internet does.”

Her nose was too big.

Gypsy Rose has been spotted for the first time since her nose job.

And it turns out she didn't just get a nose job. And her teeth, the same teeth that her mother had yanked out when she was a kid, became content too. I'm going to kill Ms. Mercy House, but the sea might get it for my teeth. She can't even post pictures with her in a swimsuit without getting comments. Gypsy Rose is up early around 6.30 a.m. this morning posting herself in a 2 p.m. bikini.

Content creators mocked her voice. Hey babe, you do you read it? Gypsy Rose's depression for me. The D is fire! It took us the front to meet the prince.

I'm on a high right now, you can't bring me down.

Right now, he's eating Abrahamie.

And later he will be eating me! In fact, people impersonating her became a trend down TikTok. Can't bring me down on a high right now. I'm looking my best life and you can't take that from me! I just, I was wearing a wig in a lot of my videos because last year,

and the year before that, I bleached my hair so much. Because I was so excited to try new things with my hair that I didn't realize that bleaching and bleaching and bleaching was going to fry it as bad as it was. So unfortunately, my hair was down to almost a butt.

When I got out of prison and I had to shave it off. And the anti-side was like, "Well, wouldn't that be a trigger for you?" And the logical side of me is of course wanting to defend myself and being like, "Do you want to walk around with fried hair?" It's kind of an necessity.

So I used to wake for a couple of months. And I'm just starting to be okay with this being my authentic self. For those of you listening on the podcast feed, gypsy is sporting a pixie cut. More mature, you know? I know you're not supposed to go.

I know you're not supposed to go. Okay. You're not supposed to ask, oh my God, I was curious. A lot has changed since being released from prison two years ago. She's been married, then she got divorced.

And now she's a mother. She has this whole new life. And her only career really is being gypsy rose. One of the main criticisms against her is that she figured out a way to monetize and profit off of her mother's murder.

She has a cameo account, a book deal, multiple TV shows. Gypsy is everywhere. And if you ask the internet, they will tell you the gypsy is rich. It's so much easier to just hide and make it go away.

“You know what I mean? Do you ever think about that?”

I've tried and it's, I've tried getting offline deleting my social media. When I first came out of prison, I gained millions of followers on my TikTok and Instagram. Well, in the process of me, you know, going through my parole time. There was just so much harassment on my parole officer that he said, you know, it would probably be best to, you know, maybe get off of social media.

So I deleted my Instagram with like nine million followers.

So I made a new Instagram quickly gained a lot of followers on that. Approaching one million now and I still maintain my 9.3 mil on TikTok. And I've had a love hate relationship with this account. I've deactivated and reactivated. At this point, my followers just know it's part of my behavior.

But when at a time where I was not on social media for like a month, it turns out that deleting your account doesn't really make you anonymous. When your face has been on every screen in America, you have a very distinctive voice.

“Do you ever get like spotted or like how do you deal with that?”

Oh, yeah, I mean, thankfully, nobody in person has ever came up to me. Or my family and been mean in any type of way. In fact, it's the opposite reaction. It's like, what's crazy is, and I don't understand it. But a lot of my fans are, you know, 95% is women.

But it seems some is even young as 10.

Will stop me at the mall or the grocery store. And I'm kind of like, are you old enough to you? What is your parents telling you what? But isn't that kind of weird though?

“Like, did you have like just the fact that you have fans?”

Yeah. Isn't that kind of weird? What are they a fan of? I'm just saying, like, you're not a performer. You know what I mean?

You're not a singer. Exactly. And I thought, I thought that to myself too.

I mean, it, I've always kind of just been appreciative that they've been nice.

But even I don't really understand it. Because yes, I can understand, you know, watching my story and feeling, you know, a compassion. But a a fandom, I don't get it. Maybe it's a social media thing. Oh, my goodness.

This girl has, you know, was taken in followers. I don't, I don't, I don't. I think the answer is a lot simpler.

“It's, it's just this parasocial relationship, right?”

You don't know them, but they know you. And maybe they are sympathetic to your story. And so it's like, your famous, you know what I mean? I can tell.

I never call myself famous.

I don't call myself a celebrity. I call myself like, well, no. If I'm addressing it, I'll say, I am well known in the public eye. Because that's the facts of it. You know, when you get the recognition, you get media coverage, you have the following.

What is that? You know what I'm saying? You're well known in the public.

“And with that comes a lot of responsibilities and burdens too.”

After the break, anti-Jipsy protesters take to the streets of New Orleans and blast Jipsy and her child. That's after the break. I'm Jake Brennan. And on my podcast, Hollywood Land, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history. Separating the myths people want to believe from the reality underneath them.

Like, how the story of Marilyn Monroe isn't just the story of a Hollywood icon. Marilyn Monroe has become so iconic that her death can only be explained through conspiracy theories. And for some fans who can't let go, these stories have metastasized from conjecture to accept it fact. So on August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started and she died again.

And now, we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died. The third one. Learn more about what happens when fame, media obsession, and conspiracy collide. Listen to Hollywood Land on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The anti-Jipsy side for lies a hate campaign against me and was raising money.

Fundraisers go find me to put up billboard signs in my neighborhood in the city that I live. Here's a clip of an anti-Jipsy activist putting up wanted style posters around town. If you dislike shmarders, send Tammy again. If you are here for some street justice, the criminal justice system failed us, send Tammy some gifts. And even after I got off a parole today that I got off a parole, I wanted to celebrate with some friends of mine.

So we're like, we're going to go to New Orleans, we're going to have a drink, we're going to have a good time. So the anti-Side was busy for two days straight putting up flyers at all the bars, a murderers in town warning. This is pathetic. This is pathetic. Fuck you guys, because I had a great time in New Orleans.

Anyone. And then, me and my friends are driving, we come across a mobile billboard. And they have a picture of me and my daughter and my partner from when my daughter was born. And I slipped out. My minor child.

I was behind sight, I should not have even looked at it, I shouldn't have just let it be.

I'm like, this is my minor child.

“Like, my minor child should not be up on a billboard, especially when I'm not plastering her on social media.”

Gipsy-resist baby space has now been revealed and I'm probably really shouldn't because it's a baby. But everybody's going to see it anyway because it's out there. So here's the picture. Well, it feels like crossing the line, right? It's one thing to have issues with you and you've chosen to be public and whatever blah blah blah,

but to like bring the kid, I just feel like, yeah, now you're crossing a line. Jipsy told me that she doesn't have a safe space. Not even her home.

Every single resident since I've been out of prison has been docked on the internet.

There's currently a video of my house or somebody drove by my house and recorded it. And it's like, this is where they live. I'm a average person. I'll go to Walmart. I'll go to the grocery store.

“Get when I need drive back home and not think two things about it.”

Obviously, someone must have followed me to know the streets. That's so scary. These people are obsessed with her and not in a good way. Her critics say that Jipsy didn't serve enough time. That she got away with murder while the man who actually did the stabbing Nick Godajon

is sitting in a Missouri prison serving life without parole. His appeals so far have been unsuccessful. Barring some kind of miracle, Nick will die in prison. And Jipsy is out there living her life. To a lot of people, that math does not add up.

I have to say I'm fascinated by Jipsy Rose Blanchard. She is one of the most complicated people I've ever reported on. But I'm not interested in doing another story about a fandom gone wrong. What caught my attention was the evidence, the videos, text messages, documents that have surfaced since the HBO documentary. Things that paint a very different picture of Jipsy Rose Blanchard.

Fuck you! Go back to your Bimbo Blood War! It is your sexy slave demonet. I can steal, I can torture, I could kill, just not those people. Jipsy Rose talking about how she plans to essay her own daughter when she turns 13. If we have a girl, the way it has to be is if we have a girl, she has to lose her virginity to you

because you are the master of the household. Now, before you go spiral, let me give you some context. These clips were recorded years ago before Jipsy ever had a daughter. What you're hearing is a role play game that Jipsy and Nick go to John played online. In this game, Jipsy played a character named Demona, a vampire slave, and Nick played her master.

And in that fictional world, they said some very dark things, violent things, sexual things. Things that ripped out of context and posted on TikTok sound like a confession. In context, they raised a whole different set of questions about the dynamics between Jipsy and Nick. And who is really in control of that relationship? That's the conversation we are going to have, in detail, not just in this episode.

But one thing's for sure, I can't do this series without Jipsy.

She's talked about her story plenty, but as far as I know, she has never publicly addressed

the Demona videos, the home videos, the text messages, none of it, at least not in front of a reporter until now. Once I started doing research, because I haven't even started, like once I dive into the hellish waters of your haters, like how comfortable are you with uncomfortable questions and stuff like that. I'm pretty open. Everybody has always known that I'm a pretty open book. Remember, you're listening to my pre-interview with Jipsy.

It's just a get to know you session to see if she was even interested.

“So, if we were to do this, because, like you said, I think maybe the story is that the people that know you, like in the Jipsyverse, they know about this,”

and then obviously the haters know about you as well, if not more, because they just, they won't let it go, right? Like this is the years and years and years and years. And it seems like every time you make some sort of public opinion or video or appearance, they jump on it. Like the outside world has no idea. So, like I really do think that that's the story. Your whole childhood was robbed from you, and then now all of a sudden you're an adult, and you have to figure out who is Jipsy Rose Blanchard.

I'm learning. I'm learning a lot as with every new experience, because I think that that's how we grow.

It's like experiencing things. So, I think that I've gotten to where I'm comfortable, like... Yeah, but I mean, going back to like the uncomfortable questions and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't think that there's anything that I... That I could find that you haven't seen earlier. Exactly. Exactly.

That's just some tough ones come at me.

“That's what I figured. That's what I figured.”

But I was thinking, if you're up for it, I'm willing to travel down there for a weekend, maybe like hang out for like a day and do the interview in person. Would you be game for that? I'd be down for that. Next time on Pretend, I fly to Louisiana to meet Jipsy Rose Blanchard in person. I sat with her for almost three hours, and she answered every single question I threw at her.

This is going to be a long one, guys. I don't know how many episodes yet, but okay, ready? Because I conducted dozens of interviews, and we are also going to cover a recent discovery about Jipsy's health that puts everything in question. That's next time on Pretend. Before we go, I want to update you on some recent developments. There's been a major development on this case.

One of Jipsy's critics filed the public records request with the Missouri Department of Corrections and got a hold of eight years worth of prison calls. And I'm going to play one of them for you right now. This is a prison call strategizing on how to make the biggest splash with her murder case.

“If I do any other television appearances that they're going to scroll the HBO documentary off the table.”

You know, I had a wait till that comes out first. Right. Right, definitely. Yeah, right now. Yeah, that HBO is a big one.

Yeah, and there's an article that I came out on buzzfeed.com. And it like tells my whole life story from beginning to now.

And it reached six million people.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. That's all I want people freaking out. When I said that when you said I was famous, I didn't think that I really was.

But now I'm very considering that. Yes. Wow. I mean, I don't want to say. Yeah.

Thank you.

“So your friend, you're going to be famous, right?”

I know. And then the lady that did the article says that there's been Lucy people that approach her and people for like books and stuff. Wanting to do my story. So I can get royalty from there. I can get money from a book and a movie with actors just not about the documentary.

So like whatever I get out, I'm going to be rich. I'm going to be driving a birthday soon. There's slowly releasing one call at a time. It's a daily trickle. And some of these calls are explosive.

Most of them are gossipy. But some of them give you this unfiltered view and to Gypsy's mind. And how she talks about the case when a reporter's not looking. Now, I've written the Missouri Department of Corrections. Asking them about the legalities of releasing such calls.

After all, I've tried to obtain prison calls in the past for this show. And while these calls aren't meant to be private, they're not generally available for public record unless they're part of a court case. And these calls were recorded largely after Gypsy's plea deal.

So here's what I'm going to do.

Because these prison calls were released after my first three episodes were finished. I will include relevant snippets of these calls at the end of the first three episodes. And I will weave some of these calls in throughout episode four and beyond. But here's what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to play anything embarrassing for the sake of embarrassing Gypsy.

Some of these calls include sexual content that was not meant to be shared. And I know, I know, they knew that these calls were being recorded. So how could they be so stupid? I don't get it either. But as a journalist, I have to respect the privacy of individuals on the other end of the call.

Some of what they're saying is personal and these people are not public figures. And I would caution any other content creator to do the same. This story just got a whole lot trickier to produce.

Hi, I'm Allie and a pretend Patreon supporter.

Today's episode was written and produced by Havier Leyva. It was edited by Poonice Shinoi with the podcast Pundits. And theme music by Joe Bacil with The Chicken.net.

“If you want to listen to the first three episodes right now, check it out.”

Patreon or pretend plus on Apple podcasts.

You'll be able to listen to the episodes early in ad-free and you'll get access to bonus episodes with full length, lightly edited interviews. And you're supporting local independent journalism. That's it for now.

“I want to hear what you guys think in the comments.”

So if you're on Spotify or YouTube, leave a comment at PretendPod.

It's my handle. I want to know what you think. That's it for now. Take care.

“On August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died.”

Then the rumors started and she died again. And now, we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died. The third way. I'm Jake Brennan. And on my podcast Hollywood Land, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history.

Separating the myths people want to believe from the reality underneath them. Hollywood Land is part of the exactly right network. Listen to new episodes every Monday on the High Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This isn't I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.