Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who was released from a Missouri prison on Thursday, reportedly said she regrets killing her abusive mother.
Speaking with People magazine, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 32, recalled how her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, would get upset when she challenged her about undergoing unnecessary medical procedures. She said her mother was especially abusive during her teen years when she started to rebel more.
“It was very similar to a domestic violence type of relationship. As long as you’re complacent everything’s fine. Put your foot down, then it’s bad,” she commented.
She went on to tell People that she decided to kill her mother after she scheduled her to undergo surgery on her larynx. She claimed she ran away but her mother, who found her within hours, had her declared incompetent and established power of attorney over her.
She said, “I was desperate to get out of that situation.”
Gypsy Rose Blanchard — who was convicted of second-degree murder — admitted to having her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, go to her family’s home in Springfield to kill her mother. They fled to Wisconsin after the slaying.
“She didn’t deserve that,” Gypsy Rose Blanchard told People. “She deserved to be where I am, sitting in prison doing time for criminal behavior.”
Godejohn and Dee Dee Blanchard reportedly met on a Christian dating website. While Godejohn was sentenced in 2018 to life without parole, prosecutors considered the abuse Gypsy Rose Blanchard suffered at her mother’s hands and sought a lighter sentence.
Earlier this month, Godejohn’s new lawyer appealed his first-degree murder conviction, claiming his client had an ineffective counsel. He accused Godejohn’s trial lawyers of failing to present evidence from a qualified neuropsychologist specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Godejohn’s new lawyer said evidence shows Godejohn had a diminished capacity and was unable to discern fantasy from reality.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who is married, spent more than seven years incarcerated at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. Her book — “Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom” — is expected to come out on January 9.
“It’s a journey,” she told People. “I’m still really trying to come to a place of forgiveness for her [my mother], for myself, and the situation.”
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