The new year is already off to a hot start, especially regarding the 2024 TV schedule, which features what may be one of the most-watched true crime docuseries of the next 12 months: The Prison Confessions Of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. The Lifetime series answered a lot of questions viewers had about her life and the murder case surrounding her imprisonment, but left some avenues uncrossed, such as why seemingly no one tried to step in and have her removed from Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard care. Thankfully, CinemaBlend was able to pose that question to Gypsy herself.
For a press event attended by CinemaBlend and other outlets, Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Ryan Anderson — her husband that she recently defended from haters — joined executive producer Melissa Moore in support of The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. After my question was posed, and she was asked about why no one tried to remove her from Dee Dee's custody, the 32-year-old responded with a story about the one time an outside organization did enter the picture, and how her mother responded.
Why Gypsy Rose Blanchard Believes Hardly Anyone Stepped In To Report Her Mother
As revealed in The Prison Confessions Of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Blanchard and her mother spent a good deal of time with family, doctors, and at conventions and other events. It sparked the ongoing curiosity, especially after hearing concerns from doctors and family interviewed in the documentary and what they felt at the time, regarding why Gypsy was allowed to stay in Dee Dee Blanchard's care without interruption.
Now out of prison as an older woman, Gypsy Rose Blanchard has had time to reflect on her past. When asked the question presented by CinemaBlend, Blanchard shared her perspective on why she felt her relatives didn't want to directly call out another family member, as well as her theory on why those in the medical profession continued to turn blind eyes despite signs that she wasn't as sick as advertised. In her words:
I think a big part of it was that there were people that had suspicions, family included. But nobody just wants to rock the boat, you know? So it wasn't brought up to other people, it wasn't talked about. So people kind of kept their suspicions to themselves just for fear of upsetting my mom and her ultimately pushing them away as friends or whatnot. I think that from the professional standpoint, I think that those doctors did have suspicions, I think it all has to do with money, honestly. And that's just my opinion about it. They were making money off of me. And so I think that in their profession, I think that that came first.
Gypsy Rose, who holds celebrities like Taylor Swift in high regard for helping her behind bars (at least her mental state), doesn't seem to have the same lofty opinions about the doctors who monitored her during childhood. Given her experience detailed in the docuseries as well as fictionalized adaptations like Hulu's The Act, it's not too surprising that she'd hold those types of opinions.
What Happened When Child Services Visited Gypsy Rose's Home?
Executive producer Melissa Moore brought up that there was one point where child protective services did actually attempt to step in and investigate what was happening with Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee Blanchard, which happened back when they first moved into the house built by Habitat For Humanity. Blanchard shared her memories about that visit, explaining why it ended with no further action being taken:
They did come to my house. And basically, they were asking me the wrong questions. So they were looking, they're like, ‘Show me your arms. Show me your leg,’ and they were checking for bruises, and at that point, my mom never hit me. They weren’t asking the right questions to me. Yeah. So, nothing was ever done. There was no follow-up report or anything. They came one time and then they closed the file.
With no physical signs of abuse present, child protective services left Dee Dee Blanchard and Gypsy Rose without further intervention. As revealed in The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose, a physician was the one who placed a call to child services, and later confessed to the mother that he had done so.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard added context to the scene, saying that the doctor's call had put her mother on high alert for a while, which included some rather extreme precautions like putting garbage bags over the windows. She continued:
She became like increasingly more paranoid after that visit from CPS, and she actually went as far as to remove the doorbell on the door because she was just so paranoid about them coming back.
It's a small detail, but one that shows that even the best true crime shows miss out on the really chilling bits that drive home how hopeless a situation can feel. While some who saw Gypsy Rose Blanchard's story when they watched the fictional series with a Hulu subscription might feel a certain way about her, hopefully, their perspective will shift after hearing the story again in her own words.
The Prison Confessions Of Gypsy Rose Blanchard will have encore marathon screenings on Lifetime on Friday, January 12, beginning at 6 p.m. ET, and on Sunday, January 14th, beginning at 10 a.m. ET. Check out the docuseries, or see a whole other set of true crime movies and TV shows available to stream on Hulu right now.
