For most of her life, freedom has been a distant concept for Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Until the age of 24, she was psychologically and physically abused by her own mother and forced to pretend she suffered from a plethora of ailments ranging from asthma to terminal leukaemia.
Blanchard was manipulated into thinking she was still a child and coerced to act the part — which often entailed invasive medical procedures to treat her supposed conditions. When she tried to escape, Blanchard’s mother, Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, reportedly chained her with handcuffs and a dog leash.
