It was learned after Dee Dee’s murder that Gypsy suffered from was a form of abuse called Munchausen by proxy, in which a person thrives on the attention they get for being a caregiver to a chronically-ill person, intentionally making them sick by various means in order to continue receiving the desired attention. Rather, Dee Dee artificially created symptoms to mimic the illnesses she was telling doctors Gypsy was sick with. In reality, Gypsy was never born with these illnesses. The Blanchards even got a wheelchair-adapted house from Habitat for Humanity, money through donations and trips through organizations like Make-a-Wish Foundation. Gypsy suffered from a number of illnesses at any given time, per her mother’s claims, including leukemia, muscular dystrophy and epilepsy.Ī community of people rallied around the mother and daughter, thinking Dee Dee was a kind and selfless person who seemed to always be willing to lend a hand. To the world, Dee Dee was a devoted mother and caregiver to Gypsy. Outwardly, Dee Dee and Gypsy appeared to have a close, loving relationship. We know from Buzzfeed’s investigative report and the HBO documentary the Dee Dee was a single parent, raising Gypsy by herself in Missouri. What was wrong with Gypsy Rose Blanchard? While Hulu’s eagerly-awaited limited series explores the Blanchard’s story, we want to remind you about the key points, which make it almost unbelievable if it wasn’t true. Why was Dee Dee killed? What happened to Gypsy? How had it gotten to this point? Things aren’t always what they seem it was no different in the case of the Blanchards. She’d been stabbed to death and Gypsy – at the time, she was in her late teens – was missing. On a summer night in 2015, Dee Dee’s body was discovered by police. Hulu’s The Act centers on the story of Dee Dee Blanchard (played by Patricia Arquette) and her daughter, Gypsy Rose (played by Joey King), a girl plagued with life-threatening sicknesses and allergies as well as mental and physical disabilities from birth - if you believe Dee Dee’s account of her health history.

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