The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard

A genuinely interesting story whose telling transmogrifies into a painful set of confessionals from the Real World. It's absolutely not a documentary. It is an exhausting, overwrought slog through prison 'romance', in a painful reality television style. Yes - has a really interesting and compelling backstory of the extremes of parental neglect and abuse, tragic consequences, etc. But you end up with so many unanswered questions about the crimes, the people involved and the actual important and relevant facts that it is totally unfulfilling as any sort of storytelling - let alone a documentary. Such a potentially sympathetic person and story squandered.

After discovering this documentary post, "Gypsy's Revenge," I noticed a significant contrast with the film. This documentary, which spans seven episodes and nearly five hours, delves more deeply than the two-hour film, impacting perceptions of Gypsy Rose, Dee Dee, and the numerous adults in their lives who, over twenty-three years, missed opportunities to avert tragedy. This lengthy format is both enlightening and heart-wrenching. Initially, I viewed Gypsy as manipulative, especially involving Nicholas Godejohn in her mother's demise. However, this extensive series paints a fuller picture. Gypsy and Nick, shaped by troubled upbringing, social isolation, and intellectual impairments and challenges, are seen more clearly. Gypsy, in particular, was molded by abuse and trauma, leading to a range of psychological issues and her eventual drastic actions. Her repeated attempts to escape her mother's control before turning to a dire solution are poignant. Given the circumstances, this documentary made me question the fairness of her guilty plea. Dee Dee's abuse, reminiscent of "Misery's" Annie Wilkes, could have spiraled into even more extreme cruelty. Now, as Gypsy Rose candidly addresses her past and expresses genuine remorse, she deserves a chance at normalcy and a joyful life. I'm hopeful she's on that path.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard did not have cancer, or any other disease her mother claimed she had. She was a victim of her mother's cruel manipulations and Munchausen by Proxy (now called "Fictitious Illness Imposed by Another"). But make no mistake - as the documentary reveals - she is still a very sick woman.

Lifetime devotes gallons of hours to interviews of her explaining her life and abuse, as well as a very dull last 2 episodes about her prison dating and marriage. There's no real fact checking, no real lens or questioning, just her framing her narrative. The whole thing is massive manipulation allowed to run wild.

Through no fault of her own, Gypsy Rose was forced to living as a perpetual sick child. But after 8 years in prison, she still spins stories and narratives that serve her needs, not essentially the needs of the truth or mentally healthy thought. She's still the fairytale loving free spirit child, except she's in prison for murder. (shhh, we're supposed to forget that part).

She doesn't need to "tell her story" - she needs intensive psychotherapy and some years in healthy normalcy. She's got a head full of messed up ideas about everything from what love is to what accountability means. Her equally immature "husband" (now ex-husband) is another sad case of a man with no real world experience who is dating a captive girl and fantasizing about a relationship that isn't' really there.

Giving her a platform (compete with manipulative dreamy shots of her walking alone on a prison yard and sitting in a prison doorway as the rain falls around her) isn't the cure she needs. A halfway house, a job, and therapy is the cure she needs.

The real hero of this whole story is Kristy Blanchard, her stepmother, who patiently hopes for her, prays for her and gives her solid advice. She's gone way out of her way for a child who was never hers, and she is the only one in this story who has earned a right to be heard.

This whole series is overly long, incredibly slow and grating, and just really a sad cash grab on a story that is as compelling as it is horrible.

It doesn't come to any kind of conclusion. After episode 6 it just stops. Which is fitting, because this story is never going to end. Gypsy Rose is going to go from show to show, podcast to pulpit telling it over and over, with her sing-song narrative and "Dreams come true" finale. She's gone from her mother's prison, to actual prison, to the prison of media attention. From the day she and her boyfriend killed her mother, she's getting better press. She's just not getting better.

This show I feel is prime example of feeding the decay of our morales of humanity. She is literally making a small fortune off this series portrait of her being a justified killer but yet appears as a victim. If lifetime doesn't see a larger can of trouble coming from this they are as nieve as she is . Now people can play the victim and then justify why they kill and also it belittling real victims who suffered abuse with out their payday all because they didn't commit a brutal murder. They are just numbing people of personal responsibility and destruction of a morale society.i hope the might highlight more positive people overcoming being victimized but doing something positive.

I believe some needs to see this for what it is you are rewarding her for being a murderer and making it ok for her to use people and get over on people. This is a shame..she makes it like she is the victim and wants everyone.to feel sorry for her.you got people on death row do you feel sorry for them. Then she married a man while in prison so she could use him . Now that she is out she does want to be with him why because she no longer needs his money. It's sad that this story is making her out to be a victim when SHE IS A MURDER AND DESERVES TO BE TREATED THE WAY SHE KILLED HER MOTHER. NO MATTER.