Executive producer Melissa Moore and now-estranged husband Ryan Scott Anderson join THR's Brande Victorian to discuss the six-part docuseries 'The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard' at the THR Frontrunners Lifetime Showcase held at San Vicente Bungalows in Los Angeles.
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00:00I want to start, you know, from the beginning, talk about those first conversations about
00:11doing this series and what was the intention behind it?
00:14Seven years ago, I was working in daytime talk and it was an assignment that I was given
00:21to go and see if I can secure Gypsy's interview for this daytime talk show.
00:25When I sat down to meet with her, she was not interested.
00:29She said no.
00:31And that's okay.
00:32So we sat there and just talked about regular life things and I found her environment really
00:39fascinating.
00:40I went to meet with her in a traditional, normal visiting area.
00:47So there's other inmates in the room, so I was not alone with Gypsy.
00:52I was in a room full of other inmates and what I found fascinating as she was sitting
00:58across from me, she started to tell me all these other inmate stories.
01:01She's like, that girl over there, she's in for killing her husband.
01:09That girl over there, she's horrible to bunk with.
01:13I'm like, oh, wow, this is like high school on steroids.
01:17Like, this is crazy.
01:18I found it really fascinating.
01:20And then one thing I found fascinating as well is that for the first time, Gypsy was
01:26a free woman and these female inmates were educating her on how to be a woman.
01:33So I don't, like, you'll have to forgive me because it's been a while since we did the
01:37documentary and I don't know if we touched on this, but like one thing that was shocking
01:42to me that Gypsy told me was that when, as a woman, and forgive me men in the room, but
01:50when she would start her menstrual cycle, her mother would put her on kids' diapers.
01:57So she didn't know, like, just even feminine hygiene.
02:03And so I was like, wow, this is like a coming of age in prison.
02:09And so I stayed in touch with her and that was the start.
02:14There's so much to share.
02:15Sorry, I'll just shut up.
02:16I'll shut up.
02:18Well, I mean, to that point, she said no at first, which is surprising to me because when
02:23you watch, she seems just like this open book and also very well adjusted to what she's
02:28been through.
02:29What was the process of getting her to want to share her story?
02:33Well, at the beginning, she wanted me to talk to her mom, Christy.
02:37She calls her stepmother mom Christy.
02:41And I just stayed in touch over the years, just here and there, and really was being
02:47respectful of her space and never, you know, just that's what she wanted to do.
02:52And then there was an opportunity where one day she called me and said, OK, I feel ready
02:58to tell my story.
02:59And actually, there's things that my mom, my stepmom, does not know.
03:05And that's when she revealed the opiate addiction.
03:09And she's like, they don't even know this yet.
03:11And so she started to reveal that.
03:14And then she started to reveal the sexual abuse.
03:17I was like, whoa, there's a lot more here to divulge and to explore.
03:23And that's when I said, oh, and then one of the things that was a triggering event for
03:28her is just in prison, she would get TV and she would watch her story play out by other
03:36people.
03:38And she wanted to share her story her way.
03:43I was like, OK, we're ready.
03:45And Ryan, was that a key part for you, too, you know, wanting to EP?
03:50I mean, I got involved because I fell in love with her.
03:53That's the truth.
03:55Like I said, I wrote her a letter and, you know, and then this story came about the documentary.
03:59They wanted to do it.
04:00And I was kind of like a surprise ending, like, you know, when it started, I wasn't
04:04involved.
04:05Surprise, yes.
04:06Very much a surprise.
04:07Very much a surprise.
04:08I don't know.
04:09So I got involved just in the last little steps.
04:11You know, my story came in and I remember Gypsy telling me, like, she kept telling
04:15Melissa, like, hey, you need to need to interview this guy.
04:18This guy is very important.
04:20And then it came out later that we were getting married.
04:22So just one of those things.
04:23That's how I got involved, just kind of go in it.
04:29How much access were you given to Gypsy once, you know, this kind of came into play?
04:33And what was that permission kind of process like with the prison system?
04:38OK, so I have kids that are in their 20s.
04:42So they will tell you that they still hear Gypsy's voice, her phone calls every Tuesday.
04:50So she has to do a recording.
04:52And when you accept the recorded prison phone call, it gives us a standard template.
04:57And you're going to know, hey, it's Gypsy.
05:00I heard it a lot.
05:02Yeah, I heard it a lot.
05:04So like the cadence and everything is like, when she would, even now, as she's a free
05:09woman, when she calls, my kids are like, hey, it's Gypsy.
05:13And OK, so so every Tuesday she would call.
05:17And in her access, very because of the prison system.
05:21So at the beginning, she had 15 minute phone calls and then it would be interrupted with
05:28you have one minute remaining, you know, you have 30.
05:35Like, you know, it just did a countdown.
05:38And so we would feel the pressure.
05:39She's like, OK, I'll call you back.
05:40And I'm like, OK, all right.
05:42So we would do that every Tuesday.
05:44And then I recorded those.
05:46I recorded those.
05:46And that's a big chunk of those recordings are in this documentary.
05:51Yeah. And for 18 months, is that right?
05:53What? That you were doing the process.
05:55It was 18 months, right?
05:56Yeah. Yeah.
05:57And it was even before that.
06:00But like, really, when we when Lifetime decided to be a part of this, that was when we
06:06started the 18 month project.
06:08And the recording started to filter towards that point of that this would be in the
06:14documentary. I want to go back to the family as well.
06:19They seem to be kind of seeking answers as much as they're also trying to put kind of
06:23context into where they were at these different points in Gypsy's life.
06:28Can you talk about getting them to participate?
06:30Was there hesitation for many of her family members?
06:33Christy was an open book right from the beginning.
06:36She wanted to share everything.
06:39She was ready to.
06:41What I loved about Christy is that she's always been an advocate for Gypsy and a
06:50non-judgmental advocate.
06:52She was the one who found in Dee Dee's house the medical pad that the prescription
07:01pad. And she's the one who started to see that this was something bigger than than
07:08any of us could imagine.
07:11So it was really her looking at this and finding this prescription pad that started it,
07:17the whole unraveling.
07:20Father and grandfather.
07:21Oh, I love Rod.
07:22Do you guys love Rod?
07:24It's amazing. I love Rod a lot.
07:27Rod, he's such a wise sage.
07:31What I what I love about Rod is and what I, you know, I know we're talking about this
07:37doc right now, but I think like what I love about Rod is he's always been there for
07:42Gypsy and he's always wanted a relationship with her.
07:45So I'm I'm grateful that now they can start to have that.
07:49When we see you meet her family, which it had to be even more nerve wracking doing that.
07:53Absolutely.
07:54What was that like for you?
07:56I got drilled a little bit.
07:57You know, it's one of those where the first time I met her sister was actually on
08:01camera. So it was one of those where she was very investigative, you know, trying to
08:07figure me out. And it was one of those where she she grilled me, you know, and it was
08:10one of those where I just had to sit there and take it.
08:12And I took it with a smile, you know, because that was going to be my sister-in-law.
08:15So it was one of those where it was different.
08:18It was very different.
08:19And as you mentioned, you know, your relationship was a surprise.
08:21The engagement was a surprise.
08:23And the entire last episode is focused on your relationship.
08:27How did you decide to pivot, you know, kind of that moment and capture that?
08:31They didn't give us any choice.
08:33So like one thing that I really so I learned a big lesson as a filmmaker.
08:41And that is that for me, I got really attached.
08:47Like I wanted I saw a vision for Gypsy that maybe wasn't her own vision, but I had
08:53a vision for Gypsy that she was going to walk out of prison, go into the safety and
08:59security of her parents' arms and have this relationship that she never got with her
09:05parents and that she was going to discover who she is, explore freedoms for the first
09:11time, riding a bike, driving a car, eating real food, different foods.
09:16Like, you know, she was eating prison food for the first time.
09:18That was her first taste of real food, prison food.
09:22So I ruined her vision.
09:26I did just because we got married and, you know, to a wrench in her plan.
09:32It's OK, though. But like that was the learning lesson.
09:36It's like I didn't I knew when you're married as a woman that you have to compromise
09:42with your spouse, your partner.
09:43You have to. It's a give and take.
09:45And what you want has to be considered with the wants and needs of your partner.
09:50And I wanted Gypsy to be selfish for the first time in her life.
09:54I want her to be selfish on, you know, nothing tying her to the needs of anybody else but
10:01herself for the first time.
10:02That's what I visioned.
10:03So how did you manage that attachment?
10:08Well, when she told me she's getting married, I was very disappointed and this is my
10:15regret and this is what I did wrong.
10:17And I totally take accountability for that.
10:20And so I was very disappointed.
10:21I'm like, I wanted that for her.
10:22And I felt like she was making the wrong choice.
10:25And I stepped aside because I didn't want to influence her.
10:30And I felt so passionately that she should go this route because I what I wanted for
10:37it was all good intentions.
10:40And then Christie and Rod actually told me, like, Melissa, you have to let her make
10:45mistakes at their mistakes.
10:47Her mom didn't let her make mistakes.
10:48If it's a mistake, that's what she has to do.
10:51And that's what got me to see things differently.
10:53But I stepped aside so I wouldn't intervene.
10:56And I mean, Ryan, you could testify that, like I didn't.
10:59Yeah, there was a moment where you just step back.
11:01But I still don't think I was a mistake.
11:05You know, it's a good job.
11:08I mean, no, sorry.
11:12I was there for her.
11:13You're not a mistake.
11:14No, I got like I didn't mean like that.
11:16Sorry.
11:17It's OK, I'll talk to you about it.
11:23But there's obviously a lot of private kind of conversation.
11:26Sorry, but it's happening.
11:29But we also see in this series, you know, you reveal some things to Gypsy as well.
11:33I think one was her not knowing like her first surgery was actually before the age of
11:38one. Even her grandfather's response, you know, to her accusation of sexual
11:44abuse with him.
11:45How did you decide, you know, how to share those moments with her, you know, on
11:50camera?
11:52I knew she wanted to know her medical history.
11:55It was very shocking to go through her records and to have access to it before she
12:01did. But in the timeline course, she was arrested before she got to see the binders
12:10is what I call them, the binders.
12:11Her mom kept medical records and a timeline of everything.
12:16But also one thing that surprised me when I went to go visit Christy to find pictures
12:22for this documentary as we're going through the buckets of photos, I was many
12:26pictures. Yeah, I was finding receipts and finding documentation like a bone marrow
12:36transplant and like I was like, wow, what?
12:39Yeah. Well, to that point, you know, Dr.
12:42Fabian, who's the psychologist in this series, he says no one in Gypsy's life
12:48intentionally failed her.
12:51For you knowing her personally and you having interviewed all of these people, do
12:55you think that that's a fair statement?
12:57I think Gypsy fell through a lot of cracks in our system.
13:00It was just one of those where, you know, this person failed her, this person
13:05failed her. And it wasn't an intentional fail.
13:08It just just happened.
13:09She fell through the cracks of every thing that should have caught it.
13:13You know, that's the way I look at it.
13:15I think everybody focuses on the medical aspect, the medical community failed her.
13:20But I see the educational system failed her because she was homeschooled or
13:25homeschooled and nobody was checking in on if she was making any progress in her
13:32education. That's where I felt like there was no oversight.
13:36Absolutely. Well, lastly, you know, the very end card of the series says, you
13:41know, her story will continue and we know that life after life is coming.
13:45Talk about choosing where to end this series and where you're going to pick up in
13:49the next one. Well, I was excited and ecstatic about that December 28th date that
13:57she was going to be released.
13:58And then I know I know.
14:02And I realized that this was an opportunity to document what it's like to
14:08transition from prison into a parole system.
14:12I think there's a lot of unknowns about our judicial system and how our prison
14:16system works.
14:18And I wanted to take this opportunity to show through documentation of what the
14:25process is like, what parole really means, what does it mean to be a parolee and
14:31what kind of jobs can you get?
14:32What liberties do you have?
14:34Can you get a job?
14:35Can what what can you do?
14:37You know, can you get a house to live in?
14:40Well, thank you both so much for being here and sharing with us.
14:45Thank you all.
14:46Thank you.