Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@nickviall / ABC News
Topics: Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Crime
Lucy Devine
Despite being convicted of second-degree murder in 2016, Gypsy Rose Blanchard says she does not see herself 'as a murderer'.
The 32-year-old was recently released from prison after serving eight years of a 10 year sentence for second-degree murder, in relation to the death of her mother, Clauddine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard.
You can listen to Gypsy discuss her role in the brutal murder below:
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Prior to Dee Dee's death, Gypsy had conspired to have her mother killed with her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn.
She met Nick online after suffering years of abuse at the hands of her mother, who forced her into getting unnecessary medical procedures and convinced everyone around them that she was severely sick.
Gypsy was the victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which is both a mental illness and a form of child abuse.
While the now 32-year-old was released in December, Godejohn was sentenced to life in prison and is currently serving his sentence in the Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri.
Following her release, Blanchard has been taking part in a variety of interviews, recalling her experience and speaking about the death of her mother.
In one recent chat on The Viall Files podcast, Blanchard revealed that despite her crime, she "doesn't identify as a murderer".
"If you think about it, yes I had a part to play in it. I requested... I asked Nick for help," she said.
"And how that conversation started was you know, he was saying that he would protect me from anyone. I said 'anyone?' and he said 'yes'.
"I said, 'even my mother?' he said yes and then the plan kind of formed from there.
"But he's the one that did the actual kill. Not me. I can't kill anyone. That's why he's in trouble to begin with, because he's the one that did it.
"So when they say I'm a murderer, I don't identify as that."
During the chat, Gypsy also spoke about the regret she feels over what happened, explaining that it goes 'back so much further than the crime' and details certain things she wished she'd done differently.
"This all started when I was a child, a toddler, so I grew up in a household where my mother said that she had magical powers and she'd put a voodoo hex on me if I ever tried to leave," she said.
"I wish, even as a little girl, I would have maybe even said something like 'mommy hears voices' and just started telling people some of the smaller things, even if it didn't make sense to me."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
You can also call 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 at the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline