Welcome Home, Gypsy Rose Blanchard

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is free. On Thursday, Gypsy was released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center at 3:30 in the morning local time after serving eight years of a ten-year sentence for her role in the murder of her abusive mother, Dee Dee. Now, the 32-year-old can begin to enjoy life on the outside.

In case you’re wondering how I could possibly celebrate—no matter how complex or cruel the circumstances—the release of a convicted killer, well, as Lady Gaga once said: “I don’t believe in the glorification of murder. I do believe in the empowerment of women.”

The Blanchards’ astonishing case first gripped the nation in 2015, when authorities found Dee Dee stabbed to death in their Missouri home. Her daughter, Gypsy, who was known by their community to have a host of chronic conditions—from muscular dystrophy to leukemia to asthma—was missing. Within days, foul play was determined and Gypsy had become a suspect. The police investigation found that the then-23-year-old had not only conspired to kill Dee Dee with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, but she wasn’t actually ill at all. Gypsy (who had used a wheelchair, oxygen, and feeding tube) it’s since been resolved, had been a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder that sees caregivers engaging in attention-seeking—and often extreme—behavior through those in their care.

By 2016, Gypsy was charged with second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2018 and is serving life in prison without parole.

What resulted from Blanchard’s case was a full-scale pop culture moment. Innumerable pieces like this BuzzFeed report, documentaries including HBO’s Mommy Dead and Dearest, and a dramatized series, Hulu’s The Act, were made in the aftermath of Gypsy’s incarceration. Her time in prison, too, has been marked by even more tabloid fodder.

“I’m ready for freedom,” Gypsy told People in an exclusive interview given before early release. “I’m ready to expand and I think that goes for every facet of my life.”

So, what’s next for Gypsy? Well, she plans to attend a Kansas City Chiefs game on New Years Eve with her husband whom she wed in prison. She told TMZ she has high hopes of bumping into Taylor Swift, but if that doesn’t happen, she’ll also attend the New Orleans stop on Swift’s Eras Tour. Swift, Gypsy said, has taught her the “true meaning of girl power.”