Prison for a Folk Hero: Gypsy Rose Blanchard Embraces the Early Days of 'Freedom' | US News

sSocial media has already found a celebrity girl of 2024: Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a Missouri woman who convinced her then-boyfriend to kill her mother after forcing her to pretend she had leukemia and other serious illnesses.

Blanchard, 32, was released from a correctional center in Missouri just days before the new year. She served eight years in prison for her role in the 2015 murder, while her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, received a life sentence. The horrific case received TV treatment in the 2019 Hulu series The Act, and was also the subject of the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest.

Now, the excitement is spreading on Instagram and TikTok, where Blanchard has become an overnight star with 5.9 million and 6.1 million followers, respectively. Although social media accounts were created in the months leading up to its December 28 release to promote the upcoming Lifetime docuseries, Blanchard gained the most attention through her “First selfie of freedomThe photo shows Blanchard standing in the mirror with a long ponytail tied over her shoulder, and it received thousands of comments from well-wishers — including the Bratz dolls' official Instagram account (“Slay my girls!!!”), as well as influencers like Tana Mongeau (” Yes!”) and Trisha Paytas (“The Queen”).

Blanchard also shared a photo with her new husband, Ryan Scott Anderson, whom she married while behind bars: “New Year's Eve kiss with my husband.” written on it He. She. Later, Blanchard show off Her diamond wedding ring and French manicured nails. The responses were equally abundant. “Girly is already dripping on her first day out,” one Instagram user commented. “Less than a week out and you have a new set. You're killing the queen of the game,” another wrote.

Blanchard's fans have been looking forward to her release since she was granted parole in September. She benefited from the true crime treatment of her mother's death, and now she's enjoying a redemption arc, with followers thrilled to watch her next steps as a free woman. And while her latest posts may have been kind of boring, the reaction to them quickly got her going An unexpected folk hero.

It doesn't hurt that Blanchard embraces the drama inherent in her real-life story. Less than a week after her release from prison, she had long nails and eyelashes worthy of Tammy Faye Packer. Before her release, her Instagram account to publish A fantasy-themed meme of a woman running with the wolves along with the caption: “Throw me to the wolves, and I'll come back leading the pack.” She also shared a photo of a notebook cover with the slogan: “Sorry I wasn't listening, I was thinking about Gypsy Rose Blanchard.”

Blanchard and her attorney say her mother, Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, tricked doctors into believing her daughter was chronically ill and about to die, a ruse that allowed the couple to receive donations, a trip to Disney World, and even a free house. . All the while, Blanchard testified, Dee Dee abused her daughter, forced her to undergo unnecessary medical procedures, beat her and tied her to a bed. Although Blanchard was in her late teens and early twenties at the time, Dee Dee lied about her age and tried to convince doctors and neighbors that she was much younger.

The horrific facts of the case may seem at odds with the renewed enthusiasm of Blanchard, who strays into the camp area. One strip club in Detroit She was offered a job She says she will be hosting a “Get Tipsy with Gypsy” launch party. (According to TMZ, she hasn't accepted the gig yet.) Counting down to her release, TikTokers posted parody videos sharing pop culture moments they'd like to catch up on. “I feel like she missed a lot,” Noah Miller He said in the video. Gypsy Rose's “launch party” will include her teaching about the rise of rapper Ice Spice, ChatGPT and shopping on the Temu app.

Blanchard He told people She hopes her new influence will have a positive impact. “I feel like I had this ability to make a difference,” she said in an interview shortly before leaving prison. She is identified as a “public figure, public speaker, and author, advocating awareness of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy” in her social media bio. (Munchausen syndrome by proxy is A condition in which the caregiver fakes symptoms to make it appear as if his or her ward is sick.)

Blanchard's superfans also stuck around a report She planned to attend a Kansas City Chiefs New Year's Eve game in hopes of meeting her idol Taylor Swift. Blanchard previously He told TMZ She used the prison commissioner's money to buy the singer's albums. Instead, Blanchard left Missouri for Louisiana, the state where she was born and has a family.

Blanchard is using her social media accounts to thank fans and promote her Lifetime docuseries, a six-hour epic of prison interviews that will be released on January 5, as well as a new book due out next week. And although she seems to be enjoying her time in the spotlight, some may think that all this attention is taking advantage of a vulnerable woman who has already suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of her mother. “I wish her a normal life, peace and privacy,” one X user wrote. “She's been through enough.”

In an interview with People magazine, Blanchard Anderson's husband mentioned Feeling “really nervous” about attention. He described himself as a “very private person” and said his plans for his wife's first days of freedom included making gumbo, exchanging gifts and taking her on a “romantic night out.”

“Gypsy wasn't on a real date where you go and sit somewhere and eat and go see a movie,” he said, adding: “We decided that every night, we're going to lay in bed, and we're going to go there.” “To talk to each other and check in on each other and see how we're doing, because it's going to be crazy for a minute.”

Despite this domestic bliss, the online drama continues. After commentators took aim at something rather innocuous selfie Posted by Anderson, looking very much like a middle school teacher in a plaid shirt and glasses, Blanchard came to his defense from the “haters.”

“If you get likes and good comments that's great, if you get hate then anything because it doesn't matter,” Blanchard wrote in the comments, adding: “Besides they're jealous because you rock my world every night…yeah I said it, D is for fire [fire emoji] Happy wife happy life [heart emoji]”.