Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, following the death of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, in 2016. Dee Dee was stabbed to death in June 2015 by Gypsy's boyfriend at the time, Nicholas Godejohn, in a plan they constructed together. Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gypsy's story has led to huge online fascination. Throughout her childhood, Dee Dee said that Gypsy had various physical ailments including brain damage, leukemia, asthma, and muscular dystrophy. However, doctors were unable to find any evidence of them, and Gypsy was later confirmed as being able to walk and not reliant on a wheelchair, as had been previously stated by her mother. According to Gypsy's defense team, Dee Dee's suspected Munchausen by proxy syndrome meant that Gypsy had faced a lifetime of abuse and isolation.
Gypsy's case went viral on social media following the release of Hulu series "The Act" in 2019, which told a dramatized version of Gypsy's life and the murder of her mother. The critically-acclaimed series, which starred Joey King as Gypsy, led to an increased online fascination with the case.
An online petition campaigning for the release of Gypsy reached over 90,000 signatures in April 2019, while Insider found this week that several Facebook groups of up to 18,000 members have been created to discuss, support, and campaign for Gypsy and her case.
Meanwhile, on TikTok, the tags #GypsyRose and #GypsyRoseBlanchard have 480.9 million and 109.6 million views respectively.