Gypsy Rose Blanchard offered a shout-out to all the “strong and wonderful” mother figures in her life on Mother’s Day, while also remembering her late mom, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
“I first want to start off by saying I did turn off the comments to this video because I don’t want to hear any negative bulls—t,” Gypsy, 32, shared in a TikTok video posted on Sunday, May 12. “If you want to talk s—t about me, by all means. I don’t give an F. Go do it on your own platform, but I’m not going to see it in my comments.”
She continued: “Secondly, it does not go without notice that my own biological mother is not here to celebrate Mother’s Day and what I choose to feel on Mother’s Day regarding my own mother is that I think the best of her.”
Dee Dee was found dead at age 48 in her and Gypsy’s Mississippi home in June 2015 with multiple stab wounds. Gypsy was subsequently arrested alongside her ex-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn. She eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In September 2023, Gypsy was granted parole after serving seven years, and she was released from prison in December 2023. (Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison for the crime.)
@gypsyblanchard.tiktok Happy Mothers Day to the wonderful women in my life💐 @Kristy M Blanchard @Raina Williams
Despite all the hardships she went through growing up, Gypsy told her TikTok followers on Sunday that she chooses to “think about the good times” with Dee Dee.
“I think about her as not what she did to me, but I think about her as a person. Was she a good mom? No. Was she the best mom in the world? No. But she was still my mom so what I choose to feel about her, whether that be guilt, anger, grief, resentment — whatever,” Gypsy added. “That’s mine to feel. No one can take away my own feelings about my own mother, and I feel like no one should be able to have an opinion about my mother except for her family and me because we were the people closest to her.”
It is believed that Dee Dee suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, “a psychological disorder marked by attention-seeking behavior by a caregiver through those who are in their care,” according to WebMD. Under the care of her late mother, Gypsy was convinced that she suffered from a barrage of disease, including leukemia, muscular dystrophy, brain damage, seizures and vision and hearing impairments. Dee Dee told her daughter she needed a wheelchair and had to use a feeding tube.
In her nearly nine-minute video, Gypsy explained that she has been working “for years” on learning forgiveness.
“I choose to remember her for the good that was in her heart that I truly believe was there,” she added. “I hope that she is in heaven, and I hope that to some degree I make her proud of at least some of the achievements that I’ve made in my life in growing up and standing on my own two feet, learning through experiences. … It makes you perfect in heaven, so if you take away the mental afflictions that my mother had, then I think what’s left is a good person.”
After talking about her mom, Gypsy offered a message to her stepmother, Kristy Blanchard, boyfriend Ken Urker’s mom, Raina Williams, and a family friend referred to as Aunt Vickie.
Gypsy even noted that she will “say a prayer” for her mother, concluding, “I will remember the good that was inside of her.”
