And that if she had a choice to either be in jail, or back with her mom, she would rather be in jail.'

'Despite everything, she still tells me that she's happier now than with her mom. However, since going to prison, Gypsy is 'thriving,' Gypsy's stepmother told the News-Leader in February 2018, adding that she's working toward her GED. However, it was later revealed that Gypsy was actually healthy, and per Rolling Stone, experts now believe Dee Dee had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, 'a mental disorder in which a parent or other caretaker exaggerates, fabricates, or induces illness in another person for attention and sympathy.'

She also used a wheelchair to get around, and a a feeding tube for nutrition and medicine.Īccording to BuzzFeed, this earned her and Dee Dee continued attention in the press, as well as free flights from a volunteer pilots organization, stays at a lodge for cancer patients, and free trips to Disney World through various charity organizations. As Gypsy explained to ABC News, she was raised to believe she suffered from leukemia, muscular dystrophy, vision and hearing impairments, and seizures. However, this wasn't a simple case of a mother-daughter relationship gone sour. The series fictionalizes some aspects, but it's based on real events, so here's everything you need to know before watching - whether you need a refresher or are just now catching up.Īs reported by People, Gypsy is serving out a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the 2015 stabbing death of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. But the scripted show, which debuts Wednesday March 20, approaches it from a different angle, dramatizing the story with actors including Patricia Arquette (Dee Dee Blanchard), Chloe Sevigny (Mel), and The Kissing Booth's Joey King (Gypsy Rose). It's been covered before in documentaries like HBO's Mommy Dead and Dearest and Investigation Discovery's Gypsy's Revenge. As anyone who's followed Gypsy Rose Blanchard's case will know, The Act is based on a true story filled with disturbing twists and turns.

The act based off true story