With the recent news of Gypsy Rose Blanchard being released from jail, many new and old fans arose to give her a warm welcome, posting silly TikToks and edits of her mugshots, only to be surprised by the life she had already established.
As she walked out of jail hand-in-hand with her now soon-to-be ex-husband, fans were struck with many questions about what was truly going on behind those bars.
Within the last few years, documentaries were released surrounding the life of Gypsy Rose and her case trial. “Mommy Dead And Dearest” has stood as one of the most in-depth documentaries covering perspectives from those closest to Gypsy Rose and her mother Clauddine Blanchard.
The documentary explores multiple avenues of Gypsy’s life, covering details ranging from medical information to even the inclusion of her absent father and stepmother.
This documentary showcased doctors and psychologists who have provided insight into the condition of Gypsy Rose, Munchausen by proxy syndrome. This condition is essentially a form of mental illness or child abuse. A caretaker, typically a mother, makes up fake symptoms or creates diseases within their child to make the child appear sick.
Each film made regarding the story of Gypsy Rose was centered around this illness, whether it was elaborated on or briefly described. The Hulu show, “The Act,” emphasized a more thematic view of her life while creating an eerie yet intriguing set for the viewer.
In the show “The Act,” the story is depicted the way the directors believe it happened. Exaggerating many characters, adding scenes to stretch the reality behind what truly happened in Blanchard’s life [show]
Throughout the show, Blanchard is depicted as an innocent young teen who is sick with many different illnesses and diseases, and her angel of a mother Clauddine (DeeDee) Blanchard cares for her and sacrifices her entire life to make sure her daughter is perfectly safe in the world
But as the story escalates, Gypsy discovers many different truths behind the life she believed to have been living. First, it began with Gypsy being introduced to one of her neighbors who happens to be a rebellious teenager. She watched her do all these things, such as stick-and-poke, smoking marijuana, having a boyfriend, and doing makeup. Eventually, Gypsy thought it would be a good idea to start to rebel against her mother on eating sugar, which she was allegedly allergic to, thus sending her to the ER and ultimately figuring out that she is not allergic to sugar.
In one of her documentaries, Blanchard stated that she would not be watching the show “The Act,” as she has already suffered through the trauma of living that life as she knows the truth and doesn’t need more than that.
As many can imagine, there have been controversial standings and interpretations of Gypsy Rose and her life and trials. Given that each film and production may vary in detail and scope, it takes a lot of understanding to identify what is true and what is fabricated.
Between her show, her documentaries, and her real story, getting the basis of everything Blanchard went through could be depicted by watching “The Act,” as the show not only shows the depth of her community being completely oblivious to the questionable diseases Deedee claims Gypsy had.
Overall the show itself, if you’re a fan of true crime, is a 9.2/10 giving each episode an eerie feeling of death at the end of each episode allowed for the show to become more and more interesting because it felt like you were left on a cliffhanger and needed to know what happened next.
But if you are a true crime fan, do some deep diving because it gets creepier.
