The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard

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.

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.

The FOIA documents have been released to the public. These are the legal case files the public needs to read. She previously tried to take her Mother's life, was never reported, and then manipulated an Autistic man who was collecting a permanent disability check to take the fall for her plan. She planned it for years and she should not be free to influence our youth.

Please do your research and read the FOIA documents. Society is not safe with people like her around. The public is praising someone who murdered their own mother & was given a false narrative for a sweet plea deal. Stop glorifying Murderers.

GR is not deserving of the attention which she is thriving in for personal gain,versus a therapeutic & redemption approach.

Why did they(courts & so forth)allow someone such freedom? She is on parole not probation for early release,which means her sentence wasn't/isn't fully completed.. I've seen those with minor crimes get less liberties,until they prove acclimation into society with time is proven.

To all those letting her act so foolish like the world owes her don't act surprised,when she does anything that puts her back in the system.

If she was volunteering or giving back in some way although it would still take awhile for others to trust her,it would show that she walked away healthier instead we are watching a younger version of her mom unfold.

She actually feels her story is hers alone,she's the only person ever parental abused. If she feels threatened your story could take her spotlight that person/social account,faces being bullied by her or a supporter.

Her mom never was diagnosed officially with MBP it was a defense tactic her lawyer used to help,so GR now uses that only to her advantage.

I'm sure some not all she dealt growing up was bad as claimed,however she played a huge part in killing someone.. It wasn't self-defense versus premeditated,so feel her sentence should of been the same as Nick.

I can't believe her PO allows all they do,makes me think they got paid off or something.. Again she did not serve her full sentence & got early release,therefore why isn't she needing stricter guidelines?

Examples: Continued travel,changing appearance,relationships,social media & more!

She's dangerous & is being given,too much freedom without consequences to harm or perhaps kill again.

Feel worried if she has a child needing attention or makes her feel not free & so forth.. She will approach it negatively,she doesn't have appropriate life skills.

Those giving support calling her queen,etc.. Are not looking at facts,but variety of movie/series "interpretations"instead.

If there was anybody who perfectly fit such a term"Grifter"her/family is that,you can only do shady things or play victim so many times.. Why GRB is a walking time bomb caught in only fantasy wants & desires,anyone dare make her accountable to daily or mundane responsibility she retreats into excuses while hurting anyone along the way.

Shame on you.. Lifetime! Do better give more focus & financial incentives.. For true victims or those,trying to do good for others.. You have given this narcissistic person,way more than 15 minutes-Move on!

(Reviewed through the first four episodes)

It's difficult to separate a documentary from its subject matter, but I've tried to do that by basing my rating on the fact that so far this has basically been three hours of Gypsy & her supporters talking about Gypsy. It's all rather self-serving, and there's virtually no counterpoint given. If you want to feel sorry for her you'll find reasons to do so here... assuming you can believe such a practiced liar.

Being a true crime fan, I'm pretty familiar with the case. It was easy to sympathize with her early on because her mother was so very evil & manipulative. But hearing her words at length here reminds that she is a trained liar who has told so many stories about what went on that it's difficult to think that we're finally hearing the absolute truth here.

She does cop to some unpleasant things, so one could use that as evidence she's finally owning up. But in the last 20 minutes of episode 4 she says, "It feels like after everything that I have been through, why keep me here? It's not going to bring my mother back." That doesn't sound like someone with a conscience to me.

Believe her or not, this simply isn't much of a documentary, nor is it really "prison confessions". It's a one-sided platform for Gypsy to attempt to continue to control the narrative, without fear of contradiction. As a result, it fails as a documentary & deserves my rating of 5 stars.

On the other side of the coin, letting her and her supporters spin their own narrative for three solid hours does show a thoughtful viewer that Gypsy hasn't really changed much. She's still telling stories that suit her purpose, and we're still left wondering where the truth is and whether or not she understands her own culpability in all of this. Perhaps illustrating this by using her own words is what the producers had in mind all along, but with no other context provided that seems like a generous conclusion to draw.

In the end, this mess has in fact changed my view of Gypsy, but not in the way she obviously would have hoped. It's pretty clear from her own words that she learned very well from her master-manipulator mother, a skill that she has continued to hone in prison. Because to Gypsy, everything is all about Gypsy.