#ThePrisonConfessionsOfGypsyRoseBlanchard #GypsyRoseOnLifetime #GypsyRose #GypsyRoseBlanchard #Interview #Lifetime #LifetimeTV #LifetimeMovies
Our Entertainment Editor participated in Lifetime's The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard roundtable interview to learn more about the docu-series, life after prison, Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Ryan Anderson's relationship, the importance of sharing their story, Dee Dee Blanchard, navigating social media and more.
Participants:
- Gypsy Rose Blanchard
- Ryan Anderson
- Executive Producer, Melissa Moore
This six-hour special features unprecedented access to Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy who suffered horrific abuse and made national headlines for her role in her mother’s violent murder. Gypsy’s shocking story has been told by many others but now she is finally ready to tell her truth before she becomes a free woman for the first time in her life.
Our Entertainment Editor participated in Lifetime's The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard roundtable interview to learn more about the docu-series, life after prison, Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Ryan Anderson's relationship, the importance of sharing their story, Dee Dee Blanchard, navigating social media and more.
Participants:
- Gypsy Rose Blanchard
- Ryan Anderson
- Executive Producer, Melissa Moore
This six-hour special features unprecedented access to Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy who suffered horrific abuse and made national headlines for her role in her mother’s violent murder. Gypsy’s shocking story has been told by many others but now she is finally ready to tell her truth before she becomes a free woman for the first time in her life.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Hello, everybody, and welcome to Lifetime's first virtual press event of 2024.
00:05 Today, we are excited and honored to have Gypsy Rose Blanchard, her husband Ryan Anderson,
00:11 and Emmy-nominated executive producer Melissa Moore here to answer your questions.
00:16 Hi, guys.
00:17 Hey.
00:18 Hey.
00:19 All right, let's jump right in.
00:22 The first question is from Samantha@Decider.com, and it's for Gypsy.
00:27 Gypsy, you mentioned in the documentary that there are still some questions you have about
00:31 your story that you need closure on.
00:33 Are you able to share what those questions are?
00:35 Quite honestly, there are questions that I just I have about the surgeries that I've
00:42 had.
00:43 I haven't had a chance to look at my medical records in full detail, and so I think I just
00:48 have a lot of questions as far as what I had done to me medically, and also just questions
00:55 to my family about things that happened before I was even born.
01:00 Got it.
01:02 Thank you.
01:03 This next question is for Melissa, and it's from thejournalist@mylifetime.com.
01:07 Melissa, how did you meet Gypsy and become involved in telling her story?
01:12 Well, it was – sorry, I just saw it mute, so I'm just making sure I'm not muted.
01:19 Well, it actually happened in 2017.
01:22 Mommy Dead and Dearest had just premiered, and when I saw that documentary, I realized
01:28 this is the beginning of Gypsy's story, that there's so much more to learn.
01:34 Gypsy just spoke about the medical questions that she has, and so one of the things while
01:41 doing this documentary was actually getting access to her medical records.
01:45 So I've probably seen more of the medical records than even Gypsy has on her case, which
01:52 I'm, you know, wanting to share with Gypsy now.
01:55 But basically, since 2017, I stayed in contact with Gypsy, and she started to feel comfortable
02:03 with me, and to the point where she started to reveal secrets and more abuse, and I realized
02:10 this is maybe the time for her to tell her story, and she agreed.
02:14 And plus, all of the documentaries and all of the dramatizations were really – the
02:20 pen was being held by another author than Gypsy, and so I'm really proud that she had
02:26 the courage to just tell it, her story, in her own way.
02:30 That's great.
02:32 Thanks, Melissa.
02:33 The next question is for Ryan from Noah Wilson at iHollywoodTV.
02:39 Ryan, what has life been like for you and your wife within her prison release, as you've
02:44 all been receiving an outpour of support and love from the documentary?
02:51 My life after her release has been a whirlwind.
02:53 It's been great.
02:56 Everything's moved so fast, but it's been amazing.
02:59 I've waited for this girl to come out for so long, and now that she's home, it feels
03:03 great to have her here.
03:06 The support and everything we've been getting from people has been tremendous.
03:09 I can't thank people enough for everything.
03:12 They love this wife – they love my wife just as much as I do, so it's really great.
03:18 And my life since her release has been tremendous.
03:21 Thanks, Ryan.
03:23 The next question is for Gypsy from Nye McGee at YourWeb.
03:27 Gypsy, how do you see yourself today, and how has your understanding of your own identity
03:31 evolved over time?
03:34 I see myself today as someone that is just basically trying to come out of prison, start
03:41 her new life.
03:43 I know that I have been branded something, and I'm just trying to remake myself, reinvent
03:52 myself into something that my family can be proud of, my husband can be proud of.
03:59 So I think I'm getting there.
04:00 I don't think I'm quite there yet, but I'm liking this new version of myself.
04:07 Great.
04:08 The next question is also for Gypsy from Mike Jost at Cinema Blend.
04:13 Watching this documentary, there's an incredible amount of times when family or professionals
04:17 could have stepped in and removed you from your mother's care.
04:21 In your opinion, do you have any insight as to why that never happened?
04:26 You know, I think a big part of it was there was people that had suspicions, family included,
04:32 but nobody just wants to rock the boat, you know?
04:36 So it wasn't brought up to other people.
04:40 It wasn't talked about.
04:42 So people kind of kept their suspicions to themselves just for fear of upsetting my mom
04:49 and her ultimately pushing them away as friends or whatnot.
04:53 So I think that on the professional standpoint, I think that for those doctors that did have
05:00 suspicions, I think it all has to do with money, honestly.
05:04 And that's just my, that's my opinion about it.
05:07 You know, they were making money off of me.
05:10 And so I think that in their profession, I think that that came first.
05:15 I remember Gypsy, we had discussed that CPS came to your house at one point.
05:22 Tell me about that.
05:23 Yeah.
05:24 Tell us about that.
05:25 They did come to my house and basically they were asking me the wrong questions.
05:32 So they were looking, they're like, show me your arm, show me your legs.
05:35 And they were checking for bruises.
05:37 And at that point, my mom never hit me.
05:40 They wasn't asking the right questions to me.
05:44 Yeah.
05:46 So nothing was ever, ever done.
05:47 Nothing was ever done.
05:48 Nothing like there was no followup report or anything.
05:51 They came the one time and then they closed the file.
05:56 And if I recall from our conversation, this happened in the Habitat for Humanity house
06:00 on volunteer way.
06:02 Is that my memories?
06:04 Right.
06:05 Yeah.
06:06 One thing that if I recall, this is just my memory.
06:09 I think after that incident, when CPS came, I believe you were telling me your mom became
06:14 more paranoid about strangers and put garbage bags over the windows.
06:19 Right.
06:20 Right.
06:21 Yeah.
06:22 She became like increasingly more paranoid after that visit from CPS.
06:27 And she actually went as far as to remove the doorbell on the door because she was just
06:35 so paranoid about them coming back.
06:38 That's crazy.
06:40 Oh, thank you for sharing that.
06:43 Melissa, this next question is for you from Valerie Milano at the Hollywood Times.
06:48 The logistics for producing this must have been tricky.
06:51 What kind of hurdles did you encounter in putting this together?
06:55 Well, thankfully, Chillicothe Correctional Center was very media friendly, I would say.
07:03 I've worked with a lot of different prisons that will just flat out not be as warm and
07:08 welcoming.
07:09 But thankfully, the prison was accommodating.
07:13 I had an hour at a time to talk to Gypsy and that was it.
07:18 So I had to be really prepared with my questions, obviously going through security.
07:22 There's very staunch requirements for how you present yourself to the prison.
07:28 You can't bring in a cell phone.
07:29 You can't bring in any kind of comforts to keep track of time.
07:34 And that you're at their mercy.
07:35 So you really got to be on your A game and know what questions you want to ask up front.
07:41 And thankfully, Gypsy is like an open book.
07:42 She was really easy to talk to.
07:45 I mean, we could talk for hours.
07:47 And so it was just multiple visits.
07:49 And I would say the whole documentary, I think Gypsy, wasn't it like three?
07:54 We did three in prison visits and then we did phone calls almost every Tuesday.
07:59 Right.
08:00 We did three in person visits and then we went ahead and did a recorded call like every
08:07 week or something like that.
08:09 Yeah.
08:10 So what you're seeing in the documentary is probably like a third of our conversations.
08:14 I mean, some of them go from, you know, her abuse to just being girlfriends and talking
08:20 about life.
08:21 Girl status.
08:22 Talking about life.
08:23 And then once in a while, something new will sprinkle in and I'm like, wait, wait, what?
08:28 Back up.
08:29 What just happened?
08:30 That was a little shocking.
08:32 Let's dive into that.
08:33 Let's unpack that.
08:34 Yeah.
08:35 Great.
08:36 Thanks, you guys.
08:37 Our next question is for Gypsy from Kelly Kearney at Starry Constellation Magazine.
08:44 Gypsy, your story has blanketed the media and everyone from true crime bloggers to court
08:49 TV anchors have dissected your case.
08:52 Why was it important for you to sit down and do these confessionals for the Lifetime series?
08:56 You know, I wanted to put out something that was very accurate.
09:02 I wanted to put out something that was the truth.
09:05 So much of what has already been put out there was either by people that honestly, they just
09:12 didn't know the ins and outs of my case or my life.
09:16 And ultimately, I think that I'm the source.
09:20 Like it happened to me.
09:22 And so it's no one has the right but me to share my story.
09:28 And that's why it was important for me to do this docu series because I can finally
09:33 be like, okay, I'm ready.
09:35 I'm emotionally stable at this point.
09:38 I don't want to keep being haunted by the past.
09:41 So this, this series is me letting go of my past.
09:48 And Gypsy also, there was fictional accounts.
09:51 Yeah, I've been that I think added a lot of confusion and misconceptions about you.
09:58 Would you agree?
10:01 What was the biggest misconception from the drama side, the fictionalized version of your
10:06 story?
10:07 Um, you know, honestly, it didn't even have to do with me.
10:11 It was actually I haven't watched many, but I have watched at least two.
10:17 And for me, it was how they portrayed my mom.
10:20 I think people tend to forget that my mom or at least maybe they don't even know that
10:25 the reason why she was able to snow blind the doctor so much, and the community is because
10:32 she was so friendly.
10:34 So in the shows, they're portraying her as like, mean all the time.
10:40 And that's not how she was.
10:41 She was like, very charming, very relatable.
10:48 She would give a hug to anyone.
10:51 She would like to cook for people.
10:53 So like, her personality was bubbly and friendly to the outside world.
10:58 And then what you see behind closed doors is her hitting me calling me names and the
11:05 abuse.
11:07 She let their guard down by just being nice.
11:10 Right?
11:11 Exactly.
11:12 Exactly.
11:13 Thanks, you guys.
11:16 The next question is for Ryan.
11:18 Ryan, this is from the journalist at my lifetime.com.
11:22 Now that you and gypsy are finally together in person, what are you most looking forward
11:25 to about your new life?
11:28 There's many things I'm looking forward to in our new life.
11:32 Just being a normal married couple.
11:34 Like yesterday, we went shopping and it was great.
11:36 We just walked the store.
11:38 We had two buggies.
11:39 That was amazing.
11:40 We just I wanted gypsy to feel free to get whatever she wanted.
11:44 And she got some stuff.
11:45 And I was like, I want that.
11:49 It's kind of funny, she actually bought like, I'm gonna tell them you bought like a baby
11:53 clothes for a baby.
11:54 We're not there yet.
11:55 Slow down.
11:56 It was so cute.
11:57 I had to get the outfit for just in case later down the road.
12:03 So like when we walked through that section, I was like, keep walking.
12:06 Keep walking.
12:07 We're not there yet.
12:10 But you know, it's just little things like that that I'm enjoying.
12:13 Tonight, we plan on cooking again together.
12:16 And we like doing that together.
12:17 It's just little things like that is what I find most enjoyable.
12:23 That's great.
12:24 I'm glad you guys are having a nice time together.
12:27 The next question is from Kathy Olson at Forbes.
12:31 How do you take care of your mental health these days?
12:33 Is there a wellness routine that you follow?
12:35 I mean, you know, I just kind of keep to the same thing that I've always done.
12:41 If I feel if I feel overwhelmed at any point, I will listen to music.
12:47 That's sort of how I release the anxiety is I will close myself off in like a room or
12:53 a closed space, put on my headphones, and I'll journal for a little bit or I'll just
13:02 lay back in my bed and just decompress while listening to any song that I feel like is
13:09 relatable in that moment.
13:11 And that's how I relax and I stay mentally sane and also like being married, I can lean
13:18 on Ryan for a lot of things that maybe if I need to talk and vent, this is this is my
13:25 go to right here.
13:27 I'm honored.
13:28 That's great.
13:29 The next question is also for Gypsy from Nye McGee at Your Web.
13:37 How do you navigate the balance between having your story shared in various forms of media
13:42 and maintaining control over your narrative and personal journey?
13:45 You know, it's really hard, because as much control as I'd like to have over my story
13:53 and how it's shared, I can't control other people.
13:58 I can control what I do.
13:59 I can control what I say.
14:01 But I can't control the narrative outside of myself.
14:04 Unfortunately, I wish I could, because then there wouldn't be any, you know, missteps
14:09 or confusion.
14:10 But I can't control the planet.
14:12 So all I can do is do the best I can.
14:16 Absolutely.
14:17 Ryan, this next question is for you from Sarah at Global News.
14:22 Do you at all have any reservations about the massive public attention on Gypsy right
14:26 now?
14:27 How are you supporting her?
14:29 You know, with all the attention she's getting, it's overwhelming some.
14:34 Gypsy, you know, from the very beginning, I've always told her, you know, if it becomes
14:39 too much, let me know, you know, and we'll kind of take a step back.
14:42 But she has told me from the very beginning that, you know, I will let you know I'm a
14:46 strong woman and she's very strong.
14:48 She can handle a lot.
14:49 And it's one of those where right now we're just enjoying it.
14:53 We're going along for the ride.
14:56 But I'm there for whenever she needs it.
14:58 That's one of those where, you know, we have a routine when we lay in bed at night and
15:03 we just we converse.
15:04 We just talk and see what's going on with each other.
15:07 And we try to work it out.
15:09 And there hasn't been any major issues yet.
15:12 So it's one of those where I'm just there for her.
15:14 Like she said, she leans on me when she needs to.
15:16 But she's a strong woman, very strong.
15:19 Great, thank you.
15:22 Gypsy, this question is from Noah Wilson at iHollywoodTV.
15:25 Gypsy, were there any of your other family members involved in your life?
15:30 And do you hold a grudge towards any of them for not removing you from the situation?
15:35 Um, there, my mother isolated me and her from her side of the family and also my dad's side
15:45 of the family at a pretty young age for me.
15:48 So I was probably about six years old when she started removing us a little more and
15:52 moving away from our hometown that we grew up in.
15:56 I don't hold any anyone, I get anything against anyone.
16:00 I don't hold a grudge.
16:03 And I've actually told them all that.
16:04 I'm like, I don't put blame on you guys, because I was six years old when she took me from
16:12 you guys.
16:14 And I understand that you guys were just as much in the dark as everybody else is.
16:21 So I constantly drive that home that I do not hold a grudge against anyone.
16:28 You know, my mother was good at manipulating and lies.
16:35 And that that's all there is, you know, there's no blame to be not to me anyway, that there's
16:39 no blame to be put on anybody else.
16:42 Great, thank you.
16:46 Melissa, this question is for you.
16:48 It's from nadros@salon.com.
16:51 As an executive producer, Melissa, was it difficult to navigate conveying such personal
16:56 traumas, especially assault from family members?
16:59 How does a person, a producer working on a docuseries get parties to speak on this sensitively?
17:06 Well, something that we haven't really been talking about is my backstory and the trauma
17:13 of how my father's in prison for life.
17:16 And that's one of the connecting factors that Gypsy and I had in common is we both experienced
17:24 an unimaginable amount of trauma in our lives.
17:28 And that's what we that bonded us.
17:29 So my father serving multiple life sentences in prison for murder.
17:34 And there was also fictionalized versions of my dad's story.
17:40 And so I could relate to Gypsy feeling like everybody is telling their narrative of something
17:47 deeply personal about yourself.
17:50 So we can connect with that, but there's no judgment.
17:54 There was no judgment.
17:55 Gypsy knew that I would not hold any judgment towards her because I know what it feels like
18:01 to be judged.
18:02 So we just had an open rapport, open book kind of thing with each other.
18:09 I think we just connected because we both understand what it's like to live a unique
18:16 and dark past.
18:19 Yeah, that makes sense.
18:22 Gypsy, this question is for you from Amanda at InTouch and Life & Style.
18:28 How have you been enjoying your freedom?
18:30 Who have you spent your time with?
18:32 What meals have you had and what places have you visited?
18:35 Okay, that's a lot.
18:38 Who I've been spending my time with?
18:40 Well, obviously I've been spending it with my husband.
18:44 I've spent some time with his family.
18:48 My dad died of the family.
18:50 So my stepmom and my dad and my sister.
18:55 Things that I've eaten.
18:56 Oh my gosh.
18:57 I tried fried zucchini, which was really cool.
19:00 I'm starting to get out of my comfort zone with food.
19:04 And I ate fried fish last night for the first time.
19:07 We went over to his mom's house and that was a lot of fun.
19:12 Places I visited.
19:13 So New York City.
19:15 So that I just came back from New York and we just came back from New York and it was
19:18 amazing.
19:19 It was awesome.
19:20 It was such an amazing trip.
19:22 Yeah.
19:23 Central Park was great.
19:24 Yeah, we had a good time.
19:27 Yeah.
19:28 That's great, you guys.
19:29 This is a question for both of you from the journalists at Lifetime.
19:34 What has it been like with this sudden onset of fame?
19:37 What is the most challenging and also the most rewarding part?
19:42 The most challenging is when they take comments out of context and they run with it.
19:49 And people make TikTok videos about something that I might've said and took it the wrong
19:54 way.
19:55 That's the most challenging is everything you say is under a microscope.
19:58 And it's one of those where I'm not used to that.
20:01 I'm just a Southern boy from Louisiana.
20:04 So that's challenging to me.
20:07 I just happened to fall into marrying the most beautiful woman in the world.
20:11 So it's just one of those things where I feel overwhelmed sometimes with everything they
20:15 say.
20:16 The most rewarding is just being with her.
20:17 And for me, like I'm just coming out of prison for eight and a half years and everyone's
20:22 well aware of my story before that.
20:24 So I'm very new to social media and I'm on a learning curve right now.
20:30 So when I comment or even like someone's post, I have to realize that it will be seen by
20:36 millions of people.
20:38 And the rewarding side is I have this huge platform, which I can use for good.
20:44 It's kind of like a superpower.
20:45 But on the downside, there's people making fake accounts and my name scamming people.
20:55 There's a rumor going around that I'm pregnant, which is not true at all.
21:00 There's so much, so many eyes on us right now that it is a little overwhelming.
21:09 And so, like Ryan said, we are taking the time at night to just vent because we need
21:16 to have those releases of stress.
21:20 You know, I mean, you're not pregnant, but you're buying baby clothes, which is kind
21:23 of weird.
21:24 It was cute.
21:25 It was a cute little outfit.
21:26 Thanks, you guys.
21:35 The next question is for Gypsy.
21:37 It's from Mark Berman from Programming Insider.
21:40 Gypsy, given everything that happened to you, how were you able to handle being in prison?
21:45 Were you always optimistic you'd be paroled?
21:47 And how difficult was it to keep the faith?
21:51 I think that I've always been fairly optimistic.
21:54 I think the only time that I was ever not optimistic about my fate was while I was in
22:00 county jail.
22:01 And I talk about that in both my ebook and the documentary, how I lost faith at one point.
22:10 It was really grim.
22:12 But then as soon as I knew that I was going to be spending 10 years in prison and getting
22:17 out of prison fairly young, I started having faith again.
22:21 And my personality is pretty bubbly.
22:25 I am a glass half full type of person.
22:28 So I always just had the faith that it was going to be okay at some point.
22:33 Absolutely.
22:35 I remember Gypsy, one of the interviews that I did with you in prison, you had just had
22:39 a nightmare that you weren't going to get paroled.
22:44 And trying to talk to you about, well, maybe you will.
22:48 Get me back up.
22:49 Two of my friends in prison had had their parole hearings before me and they had gotten
22:57 bad news.
22:58 Like they had both didn't get paroled, which it wasn't a good setup for my confidence and
23:05 to me getting paroled.
23:06 I remember that I had to keep lifting you like, like Melissa said, yeah, you just keep
23:12 lifting her up and keeping that positivity.
23:15 And I remember that we would sit on the phone and kind of go over some questions we thought
23:21 they would ask you the parole board.
23:23 I remember that.
23:24 What if they ask you this?
23:25 It was like a mock parole hearing.
23:26 Yeah, it was homework.
23:27 Yeah.
23:28 I think that's one of the hard parts is that Gypsy, you know, while she is the principal
23:41 of this documentary over these course of years, I've just become really good friends with
23:47 her.
23:48 And so I've truly invested in her future and her happiness and her success.
23:53 And I feel like sometimes that that's a fine line because there's times where I'm like,
23:59 as a friend, you know, that's a different, you know, I want to give her advice as a friend.
24:04 And then there's also the producer where I have to like, you know, take a step back and
24:09 remove myself.
24:10 It's been but it's been a wonderful journey together.
24:13 That's a good segue into the next question for you, Melissa, from my lifetime dot com.
24:19 What has been the most rewarding part of getting to tell Gypsy story?
24:23 Well, I've met I met Gypsy seven years ago.
24:27 And when I first met her, she was just starting to come into her own.
24:31 She had gone through the initial, I would say, trauma of going to jail.
24:42 Getting you know, getting acclimated to prison meeting becoming, I guess, learning how to
24:50 become friends with people in prison.
24:52 I remember she told me she would go up to people and say, do you want to be my friend
24:58 to you know, learning?
25:00 I learned a lot about her prison experience and her becoming a woman in prison, really.
25:07 I mean, some of the things that she discovered, it was kind of a coming of age story in prison,
25:12 but I got the front seat and watched her become her own independent woman throughout these
25:18 years, which made it actually really difficult when she decided to get married.
25:25 Because at the very beginning, Gypsy knows what I'm going to say.
25:28 I know where this is going.
25:30 At the very beginning, I had a vision for her future as a friend, which was Gypsy coming
25:38 out of prison, a free woman for the very first time she had been imprisoned by her mother.
25:43 She had been in prison, literal prison.
25:46 And now I wanted to see her unencumbered and untangled and going into the world as a free
25:51 woman for the very first time.
25:53 And so when she told me she was getting married, I had a very difficult time, Ryan, sorry.
26:03 And I told her, please don't get married.
26:05 And then it was a learning lesson for me because one thing about Gypsy is she's a very intelligent,
26:15 very intelligent woman, and she knows what's best for her.
26:18 And I had to remember that we all have our own intuition and our own guide.
26:24 And she modeled that for me, that she knew what's best for her and that my role is to
26:28 support her going into the future, making the choices that she feels is best for her
26:33 life.
26:34 So I came around, but I want to protect her like everybody.
26:41 I think we all feel as I think we all feel that unity as a country, as a world for protecting
26:48 Gypsy because of what she's endured.
26:50 So we all are rooting for her and cheering her on.
26:53 And I mean, you've had enough heartache for five lifetimes.
26:57 I don't want her to have any more.
27:00 And she won't with me.
27:01 Who's saying?
27:03 The next question is from Mike Jost at Cinema Blend, and it's for Gypsy.
27:11 Gypsy, there are lots of convention photos of you dressed as Star Wars and Harry Potter
27:16 characters.
27:17 Did your experience and what you were going through impact your love of those franchises
27:21 in any way?
27:22 And is cosplay something you hope to get back into?
27:25 You know, a little bit.
27:28 I'm not going to lie a little bit.
27:30 I think that like looking at old pictures of me wearing different costumes and stuff,
27:36 even though the interest is there, I can't help but have like a small part of me that
27:44 still feels like when I put on a costume, I'm put back in that time.
27:51 And that's just something that I'm going to have to work through with a therapist.
27:54 You know, I still have a lot of triggers that they might be extremely subtle.
27:59 So that that's actually could potentially be one of them.
28:04 That's definitely not on the extreme side, but on the subtle side of the trauma that
28:09 happened.
28:10 I want to add to that.
28:11 I think you're right when you she probably wore those cosplay outfits and costumes to
28:17 get out of the current life she was living with her mother.
28:20 So it was like an escape.
28:22 And I think she loves who she is now as a woman, as a person.
28:26 And I'm confident.
28:27 Right.
28:28 I guess she's right when she puts on that costume, she's escaping a good life that she
28:32 has now.
28:33 So she might not want to do it as much.
28:35 Right.
28:36 So I can see that even though I've got a major interest in all of, you know, cosplay and
28:40 everything, it's beautiful to look at.
28:42 But I don't feel the need to change my identity.
28:47 Whereas before I felt the need to change my identity.
28:50 Absolutely.
28:51 Thank you.
28:53 Gypsy, this question is from Isaac at TV Insider.
28:59 What do you want people to get out of the series and hearing your side of the story?
29:04 I really want people to just watch the series and feel like they have a better understanding
29:09 of who I am as a person, what I've gone through, who I am now and how I had to get to where
29:17 I am now by going through some really hard things that were even after the crime and
29:25 getting arrested and everything, because I spent eight and a half years in prison.
29:30 So that was a long time for me to at least make some mistakes, learn from them.
29:36 And I think people just kind of need to see me as, OK, I'm just a person.
29:41 I'm not a character from a TV show.
29:45 So how there's evolution within me, there's evolution even going on right now.
29:52 So I hope they get that from the series.
29:55 I hope they also look at my story and also take from it that this could happen to anyone.
30:03 And Munchausen by proxy syndrome is far greater than what people might think.
30:09 So the numbers, you know, there's no way to calculate the numbers.
30:15 But it's not talked about enough.
30:17 So go talk about it.
30:20 Talk about my story and realize that, hey, if you see something that just seems a little
30:25 bit off whenever you see a child and they might be in a situation where you're like,
30:32 hmm, that just doesn't seem right to me.
30:36 Say something.
30:37 Like, what's the worst that could happen?
30:42 It's hard to do, but you can do it.
30:47 Thanks, Gypsy.
30:49 The next question is for you from Paige Skinner at Huffington Post.
30:54 What do you think about Gen Z being so obsessed with you and your newfound social media fame?
31:02 You know, I'm coming into this just like brand new.
31:06 I feel like I'm a new baby bird on the Internet.
31:09 I'm like, I don't even know how to do all of the emojis.
31:14 But I think it's great.
31:15 And I think that, you know, they relate to me in a sense, because I'm coming out and
31:20 experiencing things for the first time.
31:22 So in many ways, things that I'm doing now, I should have been doing when I was like 16.
31:29 And I'm just doing it now for the first time.
31:31 So I think maybe I'm a little bit more relatable in that sense.
31:34 And I think we all kind of feel the need to want to be loved and seen for who we are.
31:41 So I think that that's the appeal about me is I'm learning about my identity, while Gen
31:46 Z is learning about theirs, too.
31:48 I also want to say that your case is probably one of the very first cases for Gen Z to really
31:57 understand that the world isn't a fair place.
32:00 I think why your case became so, you know, so famous is because for my generation, it
32:08 was the O.J. Simpson case.
32:09 That was the trial of the century.
32:12 We followed it.
32:13 I think your case was the equivalent to Gen Z because they were just coming to know the
32:18 world and they saw for the first time that the world is unfair and that you went to prison.
32:25 A lot of people have come up to me.
32:27 A lot of Gen Z folks have come up to me and expressed that and that their interest in
32:32 following Gypsy is that the scale of justice did her wrong, but they're hoping that the
32:40 scale of life does her right.
32:42 Yeah, I feel the same.
32:45 I like that.
32:48 Definitely.
32:49 Gypsy, this is a question from Noah from iHollywoodTV.
32:53 Gypsy, how has life in prison changed you as a person as you have stated that you want
32:59 to take your six million followers?
33:01 I believe you actually have more now.
33:03 And do advocacy work?
33:04 You know, prison definitely showed me maturity.
33:12 Getting to prison, I was just so green and new to everything.
33:18 And also I was in my 20s.
33:20 So I think I was trying to live my wild days in prison and then come out a respectable
33:27 adult.
33:28 And, you know, coming out and having this massive amount of social media following followers
33:38 gives a segue so I can start working on my advocacy work and bring more awareness to
33:45 mental health issues, sexual abuse, physical abuse, because it's like I feel like I've
33:52 experienced a little bit of everything.
33:54 So I definitely want to share what I have gained in wisdom and guidance, just be a guiding
34:03 light for anyone who feels like they just are in a hopeless, helpless place.
34:14 Thank you.
34:15 The next question is for you, Gypsy, from TV Insider.
34:19 What have you been watching since you've been catching back up on regular life?
34:24 Honestly, we haven't watched a lot of TV.
34:28 We've been so busy lately.
34:29 So busy.
34:30 Acclimating to normal life.
34:31 I've got a lot going on.
34:34 We have a lot of shows that we want to watch.
34:36 We have a lot of shows we want to watch.
34:39 I'm a big Star Wars fan.
34:40 So I wanted to watch Obi-Wan Kenobi.
34:43 So I watched the first episode of that.
34:46 We played Stranger Things, like the first episode of Stranger Things.
34:51 But I definitely like there's so much I want to watch.
34:55 You're trying to hit it all.
34:58 It's going to take so long to binge watch everything that I want to watch.
35:02 She wants to catch up on things she missed a long time ago.
35:05 I'm more into like the fantasy sci-fi types of movies and TV shows.
35:12 Thank you.
35:13 This next question is for Gypsy and Melissa.
35:16 We know you have a book coming out that you guys co-wrote.
35:19 Can you please tell us a little bit about that?
35:21 Gypsy, you could take the floor first.
35:24 Okay, I'll go first.
35:26 So this e-book is not a retelling of events like in the documentary.
35:35 This is more of like a reflection of everything that I have gone through.
35:40 It's deeply personal.
35:41 I share things and stories that I guess just didn't have a place for anywhere else.
35:47 So it was a format to where I could just fully be myself and be open about whatever I wanted
35:53 to talk about and what I want to share with readers.
35:58 And Melissa is an amazing person to help me on this project.
36:03 So Melissa, do you want to take the floor now?
36:07 So as the executive producer on the documentary, I mean, six hours we tell Gypsy's story, but
36:13 really we could tell it in 40.
36:16 We could tell it in 50.
36:17 Like there's so much more that I wanted to share.
36:20 There was things that happened to Gypsy just before her release.
36:24 One thing that we cover in the book is that a fan had actually caused Gypsy to go to solitary
36:30 confinement.
36:31 And that was just before her parole.
36:34 That was a very traumatic experience for Gypsy.
36:37 And when you're crafting a documentary, we have a limited amount of time and we want
36:43 to focus on the major points that are leading to Gypsy's release.
36:48 And there really wasn't a place for that other than this book for this ebook.
36:53 And so in the ebook, we talk about how a fan, the person was alerted by a fan's comment
36:59 on Facebook and unbeknownst to Gypsy, she is pulled aside randomly and put into solitary
37:08 confinement.
37:09 And we go over the story that this was just before her notification of her parole.
37:14 And that was, I mean, Gypsy wasn't, I mean, I would say that was one of the most traumatic
37:19 It was traumatizing because I kept asking, why am I in solitary?
37:23 I haven't done anything wrong.
37:26 Yeah.
37:27 And they wouldn't tell her.
37:28 So there's details of that in there, but there's also drawings and musings, things that are
37:34 very deeply personal to Gypsy and centered on her mindset that I felt like really had
37:39 the best place in a book.
37:44 That's amazing.
37:45 And that's out today, correct?
37:46 Yes.
37:47 It just got released today.
37:48 I'm excited about it.
37:49 That's great.
37:50 Great book.
37:51 Another question for Gypsy.
37:55 Once your probation is over, what are some of the things you're hoping to do that you're
37:59 currently not able to?
38:01 Travel.
38:02 Yeah.
38:03 I have a very strict travel restrictions.
38:09 Anytime that I need to leave the state or want to leave the state, I have to get permission
38:14 from my parole officer.
38:17 And thankfully he was able to let me go to New York this last week.
38:21 But that will be one out of maybe only a handful for this year.
38:27 So I'm not able to do that a lot.
38:29 So whenever I'm off parole, I want to go to Europe.
38:33 I want to go to Rome.
38:34 I want to go to Switzerland.
38:37 I want to go everywhere.
38:39 Just travel, be able to just have no restrictions as far as travel or worrying about my parole.
38:48 And yeah.
38:49 Just have that freedom.
38:50 Yeah.
38:51 Complete, complete freedom.
38:52 Nobody telling her what she has to do or.
38:55 No one to answer to.
38:57 Right.
38:58 That'll be great.
38:59 I think everyone's excited for you for that.
39:03 The next question is from Carolyn from Insider.
39:06 Gypsy, you've spoken out about reluctantly embracing your fame and you've also called
39:12 out people like Bachelorette star Josh Sider of attempting to use your notoriety for their
39:18 own fame.
39:19 Now that you've been released, are you concerned about people using you for their 15 minutes
39:23 of fame?
39:24 You see, I don't think that I'm concerned.
39:27 I think that I have it under control because I think I have a good judgment of of who is
39:32 trying to do that and who is not.
39:35 I'm a pretty good judge of people's intentions.
39:39 And so if I see even the most slightest thing that I feel like they're using me for fame,
39:46 I cut communication off because my friends, my family, unless they are asked to participate
39:54 like in the docuseries, I asked them to participate in the docuseries and they said, OK, but my
40:02 friends and family that are true to me don't blast.
40:06 I'm friends with Gypsy Blanchard.
40:08 I know Gypsy Blanchard.
40:10 They don't do that.
40:11 They're very quiet.
40:13 And in fact, when they post a picture of us together, a lot of the comments are like,
40:17 I didn't know you knew Gypsy Blanchard.
40:19 I didn't know you was related to her.
40:22 So that's how I can distinguish, OK, they're here for the right reasons.
40:28 And Gypsy has a lot of people taking care of watching out.
40:31 Oh, yeah.
40:32 My stepmom, she's a bulldog.
40:33 Yeah, she's very protective.
40:34 Melissa is very protective.
40:35 And Mia.
40:36 And Mia.
40:37 I feel like I have my equal in Mia.
40:38 Yeah, Mia grilled me pretty hard on the documentary.
40:46 But yeah, Gypsy, people are on the watch, like people protect her, which is great.
40:56 That's great.
40:57 Ryan, this question is for you.
40:59 What do your students think of your new wife?
41:01 And are you just the coolest teacher ever?
41:05 I feel like I am the coolest teacher ever.
41:07 But that's just me.
41:10 You know, due to my past experience of losing a job with just, you know, her being my fiance
41:18 and stuff, I'm very careful of who I tell, especially students.
41:24 You know, I haven't been back to school since it's been out that, you know, my wife's been
41:28 released.
41:29 So I'm kind of curious.
41:30 I remember this fall, a couple of students saw that I was married to her and they were
41:34 very cool.
41:35 You know, they come up to me and ask a couple of questions and I was kind of like, keep
41:39 it hush hush.
41:41 Because I do worry about that.
41:42 I've had that experience before where it ended up costing me my job.
41:48 But you know, right now I'm getting out cries of support and teachers are reaching out to
41:52 me and telling me congratulations.
41:54 And so the past experience made me do my current school.
42:00 I was open and honest with faculty and everything and my boss.
42:04 And so there, there was no secret of who I was married to.
42:08 So it's one of those where they've been great and supportive.
42:11 And I feel like I'm the coolest teacher ever.
42:13 That's just me.
42:14 But I'm biased.
42:15 So yeah, absolutely.
42:16 I bet you are.
42:17 I feel I am.
42:18 Gypsy, this question is from Samantha at Decider.
42:25 Gypsy, you've really become a celebrity lately.
42:28 Have any other famous people reached out to you via social media, aka slid into your DMs?
42:33 And are you able to name any of them for us?
42:36 Yeah, I mean, I have just actually checked my DMs like two nights ago.
42:42 I just want to say that I don't consider myself a celebrity.
42:45 I don't like the term celebrity.
42:49 I like either well known, I think well known or public figure would probably be best to
42:56 describe me.
42:57 Because I consider celebrities to be actors, actresses and singers.
43:02 And I don't fit into those categories.
43:04 But yeah, there has been some, you know, celebrities that has reached out.
43:09 Elizabeth Smart actually reached out to me.
43:12 And I sent her a message back just telling her that I think, or you know, I knew of her
43:16 story a long time ago.
43:19 I think that she's an inspirational woman.
43:22 And I definitely think that she's a great role model for me to follow.
43:28 Because she took her situation that was, you know, a bad situation and she made a wonderful
43:33 person out of herself.
43:35 In spite of it.
43:38 So.
43:39 Thank you.
43:40 Ipsy, another question from iHollywoodTV.
43:43 Did you ever suspect that your mother was lying to you about your health issues?
43:48 Of course, I had my suspicions.
43:53 Because obviously, there was things that I knew that I didn't have wrong with me.
43:56 And then there was other things that I didn't know, to the fullest extent.
44:01 So there was times that I would question I'm like, do I really need this medication?
44:07 Do I really need this?
44:09 I would think to myself.
44:10 So yeah, I did have my little doubts.
44:15 Something that people ask me all the time is, why people go to like, why didn't you
44:21 ask your dad how old you were or something like that.
44:23 And I don't think people realized they didn't understand that you didn't have a relationship
44:28 with your dad at that point.
44:29 But I remember asking you, how did you not know your age?
44:32 How did your mom hide your age from you?
44:34 And I remember you telling me that she never put the right number of candles on your cake.
44:41 Remind me of that.
44:42 She hid your age from you.
44:44 Yeah.
44:45 So, you know, it was happening.
44:47 I probably started happening when I was about eight years old.
44:51 And so I didn't ask questions as an eight year old.
44:55 But it continued on until, you know, the crime happened.
44:58 And so I get that question a lot, actually, like, how did how did you not know your age?
45:04 And growing up for birthday parties and for, you know, gatherings.
45:10 My mom never put number candles on my cake.
45:14 You also change your birthday.
45:17 Like all the forms.
45:18 Yeah.
45:19 And so, you know, things that was going on.
45:22 I never asked for clarification because my mom handled all kinds of medical paperwork.
45:28 There was never a need for me to know the exact date.
45:35 And so finding out that I was older than I thought was a little bit of a shock to me
45:41 after everything.
45:43 And now I feel like, oh, I went from 19 to 32.
45:47 Jeez, God, I got old so quick.
45:49 How did that happen?
45:50 You never went to school either.
45:56 That's true.
45:57 You didn't go to school.
45:58 So there wasn't, you know, this lineage of school pictures.
46:04 I think that I still can't wrap my head around that you only went to school up till second
46:09 grade and that you are so intelligent and articulate.
46:15 And that you can write and read at the level that you do is phenomenal to me.
46:21 Yeah.
46:22 It was a lot of hard work for me.
46:25 You know, getting my education was something that I prioritized and I worked and worked
46:30 and worked.
46:31 There was times that I wanted to give up.
46:33 I'm like, I'm never going to get this.
46:36 And then I finally started picking it up.
46:39 And you know, I'm shout out to prison for giving me my education.
46:43 I would have thought.
46:46 Well, that was, you know, the people talk about how the medical community failed you.
46:52 I see that the school system failed you because there should have been checks and balances
46:57 from you being homeschooled all these years to see if you would pass state tests or pass
47:03 certain tests or that there was a board or like members to come to your house to make
47:07 sure that you truly are getting a homeschool education.
47:11 But that was never good.
47:12 I'm actually really shocked that that never happened.
47:15 You know, I remember the doctor saying, you know, oh, is she in school?
47:20 And my mom would say, oh, she's homeschooled.
47:22 We have our you know, we're registered.
47:25 And there was no questions more about it.
47:28 So I'm actually just finding out that, you know, it's illegal to not put your kids in
47:32 school.
47:33 I'm like, that's a thing.
47:34 Why wasn't?
47:35 Why didn't anybody say anything?
47:36 Because I didn't know that.
47:37 Thank you, Gypsy.
47:43 Are there any misconceptions about what being in prison is actually like?
47:49 You know, I think that there is this giant misconception that being prison in prison,
47:56 it's like jail, because while you're in jail, small cells, all you do is sleep in your bunk
48:02 all the time you eat, you sleep, and that's it.
48:06 But prison is a world within a world.
48:08 There are jobs in prison.
48:11 There's education in prison.
48:13 There are, you know, inmates that are serving life without parole sentences have to make
48:18 a living somehow with their lives.
48:20 They can't just sleep all the time.
48:23 So it's funny, because there would be things that, you know, I times that I would be busy
48:28 that Ryan would want me to call him.
48:30 And I'm like, well, I've got this going on.
48:32 I've got this going on.
48:34 So the world doesn't stop for the inmate when you go to prison.
48:41 It's just it becomes different.
48:43 It's different than total freedom.
48:45 And you also surprised me when I asked you to describe your cell.
48:50 And it sounded to me more like a college dorm.
48:53 It did.
48:54 It did.
48:55 It's like we had a bunk bed on this side, a bunk bed on this side, a nice little table
49:01 in the middle.
49:02 We had keys to our rooms.
49:04 That was a microwave.
49:05 Yeah.
49:06 Yeah.
49:07 A microwave.
49:08 Yeah.
49:09 And in the in the wing, we had two microwaves.
49:11 If you lived on the honor dorm, you got to have big round tables in the day room with
49:18 board games and things like this for us to do.
49:21 Yeah.
49:22 If you live on the honor wing, it's I call it the penthouse of prison.
49:25 It's really nice.
49:27 And you live there.
49:28 And I live there for a couple of years.
49:33 Yeah.
49:34 That was really surprising to me because I was thinking the same thing, that it would
49:38 be just a metal toilet.
49:41 That's segregation.
49:45 I know that now, but I was surprised you had a microwave like and you had access to like
49:49 cook all your food, which makes sense for now when you're living in your beautiful apartment
49:55 that you have to learn how to use your stove.
49:58 I know.
49:59 One thing that surprised me, Gypsy, is when you told me that you got the apartment and
50:08 you're like, and the refrigerator has an ice and water maker in it.
50:13 If I take a picture and post it, would that be bragging?
50:16 I was so happy to have an ice and water maker in the fridge.
50:24 Yeah.
50:25 Yeah.
50:26 Gypsy, have you given any thought to what your next step will be in terms of a career?
50:33 Are you interested in a nine to five job?
50:36 And if so, what would you choose?
50:39 You know, right now, my life is way too hectic for a nine to five going forward.
50:45 I think that, you know, I might get a little bored not having a day to day job.
50:51 So I might want to have one.
50:54 Right now, I'm not wanting one.
50:58 Not wanting to take that on.
50:59 But I think a couple months down the road, I just might.
51:04 Career wise, you know what I might want to get into?
51:07 I like to do people's hair.
51:09 I like to do makeup.
51:10 I'm a total girly girl.
51:12 So you know, I might want to do something in retail at a shop that I really like and
51:18 enjoy.
51:19 Also, I might get discounts, which would be cool.
51:23 So yeah, I mean, eventually, just not right now.
51:28 Opportunities are endless.
51:29 Yeah, yeah.
51:30 This is our last question.
51:33 Gypsy, what are your hopes for the future, both personally and in terms of the message
51:37 or impact your story can have on others in difficult situations?
51:42 Personal goals right now are just having a lot of family time, making amends with those
51:50 that were really hurt by not only the crime, but also learning that the people that they
51:59 knew, meaning my mom and I before I got arrested and my crime, were not real.
52:07 They weren't real people.
52:08 It was a fraud.
52:10 And we weren't those people.
52:13 So now coming out, I just want to make amends with those people and show them who I am and
52:19 kind of reintroduce myself to these people that I knew from before.
52:25 And they're having to learn me now.
52:29 Quality time with family, quality time with friends, learning how to cook with my mother-in-law
52:36 and Christy, being a good wife, improving myself as a wife are all personal goals for
52:44 me right now.
52:45 I think professional wise, aside from that nine to five, I think that I will always be
52:58 Gypsy Blanchard to the media, but I think that I am putting the Gypsy Blanchard that
53:07 people knew from several years ago in the past.
53:10 And I think going forward, I am married, so I'm now going forward as Gypsy Rose Blanchard
53:17 Anderson.
53:19 And what that means for me is, okay, reinventing myself as a new person.
53:24 All right, the prison Gypsy is over.
53:26 Now this is the new Gypsy and let's form this new identity for me and see what I can do.
53:36 See the power of my voice.
53:37 I've already used the power to share my story for myself.
53:42 Let's see if I can share maybe other people's stories and give them a voice.
53:47 Voice of the voiceless.
53:50 Yeah, yeah.
53:52 That's fantastic.
53:54 Thank you so much, Gypsy, Ryan and Melissa for being here today.
53:58 We really appreciate your time.
54:00 For everyone listening, the prison confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard will re-air on Lifetime
54:05 Friday from 6pm to 12am and Sunday from 10am to 4pm.
54:11 It will also be on the Lifetime app and mylifetime.com until February 6.
54:16 And don't forget Gypsy's ebook, Conversations on the Eve of Freedom is also available today
54:21 wherever ebooks are sold.