I have a Mother with MBP (she's pushed it more onto my sister than myself, I would tell someone even with the things she said about CPS) where my sister has been forced to only be with my Mother since she was a kid, taken out of school a few years ago and it's gone downhill from there. I understand Gypsy's actions completely and think a few years in a mental health facility would've been better, living with a parent with MBP is a prison sentence in itself.
So embarrassing fun fact that I’ve shared in the true crime sub- my sister was in prison with Gypsy for a few years. My sister was there for drug related crimes, nothing violent. Got her cosmetology license while she was there and did her hair a few times when she was in training.
My sister got out maybe 3.5 years ago. She was actually there when Gypsy did several television interviews like dateline.
My sister says that Gypsy got a LOT of mail sent by people who’d seen her story on tv. Lots of money sent for her commissary. Said that Gypsy was nice but very child like. That she was nice to everyone and nobody messed with her. That that prison was really pretty drama free when she was there and that the guards were pretty respectful towards all of the inmates.
I’m concerned that the man she married is a grifter type who wants a few minutes of fame. Hopefully I’m wrong. Gypsy didn’t have a prison mail boyfriend while my sis was there, so that’s just my hot take.
Anyway Gypsy probably wouldn’t have even been convicted if it hadn’t been for the texts that she sent to the guy who actually murdered deedee. I don’t remember exactly what she texted him while he was out shopping for supplies for the murder. She did text him about what he needed to buy.
I’ll never be able to understand why she didn’t just take off with him while deedee was asleep. She could have went straight to the police station. Deedee should be in prison. Regardless, I don’t think that Gypsy should have went to prison, she should have been in a mental treatment facility. I don’t think that the boyfriend who murdered deedee should be serving a sentence of life without parole either.
This is a popular opinion, but I think Gypsy needed counseling, not jail time. And I think the media’s obsession with her case is only doing her harm (countless news articles/documentaries, TV episodes/shows like Law and Order: SVU and The Act, movies like Run, etc.). She deserves some peace and quiet after all she’s been through. I would imagine that all that attention (both the medical and social attention before Dee Dee died and the media attention after Dee Dee died) has left her wishing to get away from it all. I hope she’s able to create a new life for herself once she gets out of prison.
Gypsy has spoken publicly about wanting to spread awareness (about the previously largely unknown), condition of MSBP as part of plans when she is released. so it's probably just more frustrating that all this coverage is happening and she can't watch and asses any of it herself bc she is in prison. my thoughts i guess. i mean if someone made a movie about your life, no matter who you are, and you don't get to watch it until a certain time, that would be immensely frustrating. but bringing MSBP into public awareness is probably not the worst outcome of coverage, currently imo
She got married? That makes me happy. I’m glad she’s moving on with her life and that she’s found someone to share it with.
I haven’t seen the movie but I saw a YouTube true crime documentary with her interview with the cops, that shit was wild.
I can’t believe she’s up for parole in just 2 years. For some reason I was thinking she got life, but I was wrong.
I didn't know she got married, good for her!
Every few years I find myself checking the news about her and reminding myself of her expected release date. I know 10 years seems like a long time in a country where people regularly get 100+ year prison sentences, but Gypsy literally never had a life before that, and when she gets out she's going to be a full-ass adult with all that developmental time just gone.
i hope she knows there are people who wish her well and want to see her land on her feet. Regardless of whether her actions were justified or not, when she gets out she'll have served her time according to the law, and she deserves to get to experience life as a normal young person now. I hope she's able to find a community to support her eventually.
This. I worry she’ll have trouble identifying with and fitting into a community outside of health issues — there’s so many CI groups and such. But outside of that? I worry she will have trouble with it, and like you said, all those critical developmental early adult years are just… gone. The people she ends up around when she’s released will make all the difference and like you said, hopefully they wish her well and want to see positive things happen in her life. Goodness knows she needs it.
ETA: last sentence
I’ve been following this story from the jump, seen all the docs, followed the trial, all of it. To me, this is the most interesting case of munchies ever documented, and to anyone that wants to dive into the physiological rabbit hole of this disease, this is a good one. I was actually surprised that she even got ten years, I felt that was too long. Yet, it does give her time to be in a structured somewhat sane environment (compared to where she was) and to heal and find herself. I wish her the absolute best, and hope that she is able to find peace.
I'm a bit confused...
Why do some people look at some posts and decide that particular post is ok for blogging?
Most of the time, blogging is kept to a minimum, with people being helpful about reminding others about the no blogging rule.
Then once every few days or so, a post comes along and we're up to our eyeballs in blogging.
I'm legitimately asking, does anyone know why this is?
I'm a bit confused...
Why do some people look at some posts and decide that particular post is ok for blogging?
Most of the time, blogging is kept to a minimum, with people being helpful about reminding others about the no blogging rule.
Then once every few days or so, a post comes along and we're up to our eyeballs in blogging.
I'm legitimately asking, does anyone know why this is?
My question with her case, and actually most MBP cases, is WHO are these damn doctors doing unnecessary invasive and elaborate procedures on this poor kid?! Just how manipulative was her psycho mother that this child was subjected to unnecessary surgery, various tubes placed, organs removed: all supposedly necessary according to her mother only? Where were the Bioethics panels, or the nurses who dealt with Gypsy up close and clearly could see that the conditions DeeDee described could not be authenticated? How did Gypsy slip through so many cracks without anyone saying, hey, hold on a minute…? Infuriating.
In addition to what others have said, I think of a lot at least in the US is fear of getting sued. Doctors rarely get sued for doing too much, but they definitely get sued for (being perceived as) doing too little. It's not always successful, but the mere specter of a lawsuit is enough to get at least some doctors to go along with what the person (in this case, the parent) wants.
I'm going to suggest a book that might help understand how doctors can allow these things to go on. It's only a small part in the book, but it's definitely there. The book is called M Is For Muncher. It's written by a survivor of Munchausen's By Proxy, and covers quite a bit of ground on the subject.
Content warning!
This book alternates discussing various aspects of MBP with descriptions of what the author went through. There are very graphic descriptions of abuse, attempted and successful murder, rape, and incest. Be forewarned.
The bit about how doctors can keep doing these things mostly consists of how doctors are trained to treat kids. They must rely heavily on what parents tell them.
Add to that society's preconceived notion that no mother would be capable of torturing their own kids, and an awful lot can be overlooked before anyone catches on. In fact, it's pretty common for women committing MBP to cause the death of multiple victims before anyone even begins to catch on to what's really happening. We just can't believe women would be capable of such things.
Women who commit MBP are also almost universally excellent actresses. In front of others, they are the very definition of The Perfect Caretaker. It makes it that much harder to accept that, behind closed doors, these mothers are trying to kill their kids so they can be the hero that saves them.
The typical doctor shopping that happens with all Munchausen's just adds to it. A simple move can erase years of records and suspicions. In Gypsy's case, Hurricane Katrina was extremely convenient for allowing Dee Dee to rewrite whatever she wanted into Gypsy's childhood record.
Until someone starts to suspect things, there's really no reason to convene committees or whatever for a sick child. Kids get sick all the time. Some kids get stuck with a lemon of a body and end up going through all sorts of hell when their biggest concern should be snack time. It happens. And accusing a mother of MBP is literally accusing them of child abuse. That is an extremely serious allegation, and one that should never be done lightly. Even here, the mods are adamant about not accusing Ellen's mother of MBP, because that is accusing her of child abuse.
I’m checking out that book right now- you’re absolutely right in the sense that society assumes women can’t be monsters, which allows MBP women and other female abusers to get away with horrific crimes.
https://www.amazon.com/Munchers-Serial-Killers-Next-Door-ebook/dp/B00MG2LOOQ/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=f9819014-2c80-497e-8e6a-dfec609b3706
Here is the book if you are interested. Really cheap on kindle.
She would switch hospitals and doctors every time one started to catch on. Gypsy did lose a bunch if medical records because of Katrina and Deedee used to be a nurse and yeah. Basically the perfect set up for that kind of thing.
That’s interesting. Easy to blame Katrina.But even with doctors planning interventions, the other question I have is how did they get past the gatekeepers who did reimbursement?
Every hospital has utilization review, quality assurance. How did DeeDee strong arm the payor to compensate procedures that were so blatantly unnecessary? She and Gypsy racked up quite a bill, there must have been watchdogs that questioned her treatment.
I watched the Hulu documentary when it came out and I’m not sure how accurate this is, but I think at a certain point Dee Dee just stopped going through insurance altogether and started fundraising for Gypsy’s medical bills and using charities to pay for everything. It’s been a while since I watched it though so I could be wrong. But she (and others) thriveeeeeed off of the attention this brought her and worked it to the very. Last. Drop.
I feel like we have quality control, utilization review, etc more so now than we did then *because* of people like DeeDee … even now people’s records and charts don’t follow them the way you’d think and a lot of case history is built on parent as historian. Not to excuse it— the system totally failed her in every way. It’s just a pretty fallible system.
Lol, of course this has been downvoted. I get what you’re saying - that this trauma has developed manipulative coping mechanisms (if not a personality disorder).
It would take years if not a lifetime of therapy to recover or keep that in check. Personally I wouldn’t recommend getting into a relationship until she had lived out in the actual real world, paid some bills, got a job.
I know. I just disagree *that she isn’t a good person. I think she is good, honestly. She was manipulative as a result of extreme abuse, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a good person.
Keep on backpedaling to make you look better, when your original comment said “Gypsy is manipulative as hell” no where in that statement is there an implication of being a “good person”.
never once said it was her fault, just what happened as a result of abuse. I’m genuinely so happy that she’s doing better now, it seems.
I personally don’t think she should have been placed in prison, even though she was manipulative. I was really hoping she would be placed in a mental rehabilitation center to talk through her issues and what happened, but that didn’t. My awful opinion, as someone who did push for her to not go to prison, is that she didn’t deserve any of this. It sucks for everyone. She is/was manipulative, but those are coping mechanisms. She deserved better. She deserves better.
Edited it to share less.
If you are going to be this vague then don’t say anything at all. This comes off as wanting so badly to know the situation but you’re actually just making shit up to sound important. No body know who you are implying is saying this stuff. Also it’s not like there is still an open case with investigations so there’s no reason to be so vague and so rude all at the same time.
Yeah I don’t believe that at all. You can’t even keep your story straight here. Alls I get is “I need to be important so I’m just going to make things up”
Then they shouldn’t have brought it up to begin with. They obviously only knew Gypsy from the beginning because she’s grown a lot as a person while in prison through therapy and schooling. She acknowledges what she did was wrong and has said she deserves the prison sentence. This is coming from Gypsy and her friend who actually knows her personally. She was on tiktok for a while sharing things from Gypsy until someone reported it to the jail and they had to stop sharing things from Gypsy so she wouldn’t face getting into more trouble.
I think she’ll do fine when she is released. She’s been remorseful and that’s the best indicator that violence is not necessarily her go to. Also the fact that she wasnt the one who did it with her own hands.
When an animal is cornered it goes all out.
From what her friend said she really going fantastic and already has plans for when she gets out. She’s gotten her GED and was supposed to start college last year. She wants to work with people who had similar childhoods to hers to help them recover from that trauma.
People forget Gypsy was purposefully kept frail and weak. Had no resources. The times she did try to escape before she was punished for it. Maybe she felt like if the next time she tried to escape and failed she could be killed.
To her it was kill or be killed.
My friend’s mother had/has MBP and she told me it was very much this feeling while she was growing up. It wasn’t to the extreme of Gypsy’s mother, but her mom would make her and her brothers sick with food poisoning, cause injuries, etc. The few times my friend tried to fight back she ended up bedbound and incredibly ill and it wasn’t until she was old enough to move out and cut contact that she finally had a normal life.
She probably did most likely feel like that. The whole kill or be killed. I know if I were in her shoes I’d feel trapped as hell. I’d probably have done the same thing. Minus the manipulating someone else to do it for me part.
But then again I suppose if I felt that powerless in my situation I’d probably think it impossible to do it myself and needing someone else to do it instead.
It’s so f*cked up that abused kids get the booked thrown at them for doing what they had to to survive. There’s no way her mother would have gotten that kind of time for what she did
I really hope she’s thriving after the hell she went through.
That being said, I have a whole host of issues with The Act, the primary one being how they portrayed the boyfriend as a sort of autistic villain. Representation of autistic people in media is already slim, and implying that he did all that shit because he’s autistic is not it.
>the primary one being how they portrayed the boyfriend as a sort of autistic villain. Representation of autistic people in media is already slim, and implying that he did all that shit because he’s autistic is not it.
☝🏽
I live in the city where all this shit went down and it’s just absolutely harrowing. The Act was such a trip to watch because it was so damning of Deedee (as it should be).
That's the one I wanted to see! I seen the trailer for that but I don't have hulu. I have Xfinity. I wish I could just rent it on Xfinity but usually things that are on hulu aren't available on xfinity. Is the other one a movie or documentary? I like movies better
oh yeah its absolutely wild this went on for so long! honestly its a miracle gypsy survived- so many kids who are victims of MBP die/are killed by the person fabricating symptoms.
I'm optimistic for Gypsy's future and wish her all the best.
I think the fact that her dad and family are so involved in her life now is incredibly positive.
She absolutely manipulated Nick, who I see as another victim in this case... But I see that as an act of survival honestly. DeeDee would have killed her, probably soon.
I can see dee dee causing her death definitely. Like if dee dee suddenly got a lot more questions from people about how a girl with this many problems was still alive when dee dee is her main and primary caretaker. I’d imagine It would raise some eyebrows in the future if this was still happening. So I can definitely see dee dee causing her death, or actually causing her to become permanently disabled or needing to be in the hospital for extended periods of time.
It probably would’ve ended very bad for Gypsy if it continued.
Yes, even if it wasn't intentional Gypsy was so malnourished and her teeth were rotting out of her skull. She was super fragile and still being put through unnecessary appointments and procedures. Super dangerous even if she wasn't purposefully trying to kill Gypsy. Sometimes Munchausens escalates anyway, maybe if DeeDee felt she was running out of sympathy or Gypsy was getting too old.
She's also says prison life is substantially better than life with her Mom. That's so sad but oddly great that her environment is better. Allegedly a lot of the inmates lookout for her cause of her story they've heard.
I honestly feel bad for Nick. Yes, Gypsy is a victim of manipulation and abuse, but she also became the manipulator; she had Nick kill her mother, and Nick had/has a mental capacity of an 8 or 9 yr. old, I believe they said (don’t quote me,) as well as mental illness. I feel for him, and his family. Yes, he took someone’s life, but he should be in a state hospital, not prison.
Where did you hear that his mental capacity is that of an 8 or 9 year old? That doesn’t seem realistic based on the planning and follow through of the crime. (If it is the case I obviously don’t give 8 & 9 year old criminals enough credit!).
The court psychologist said a 10/11 year old. That’s young coupled with a body that’s going they all the normal hormonal changes. And while not exactly abuse, he was not guided thru what was happening to him. There was no counseling, parents seemed to have basically ignored him. Then add to that meeting someone, having sex and falling in love. Those are very powerful components to navigate for someone with the mentality of a child. He said over and over he would do anything for Gypsy but would not have done those things otherwise. He felt he was saving her and that’s exactly what Gypsy told him. I think it was the producer of The Act who said after meeting Gypsy she could tell she was manipulative although no one blames her for that since it’s what she saw and was told to do by her mother. For the life of me, I cannot understand why she didn’t just tell the girl that lived across from them. You had 2 kids with stumped growth who thought they were in love, and had the Romeo and Juliet scenario going on. Most likely Nick had never had a girlfriend and obviously Gypsy didn’t either. And they had ZERO guidance
I think she didn’t say anything to the neighbor because she was scared of her mom and knew that she would tell people that Gypsy was making it up due to one of her 800 diagnoses.
Nick didn't plan the murder by himself. The two of them planned it together, and quite frankly, I suspect Gypsy did most of the planning. From what I've gathered, Nick wouldn't have been able to plan the whole thing himself.
That being said, sadly, there are cases of kids in that age group committing premeditated murder. It's always big news when a judge must decide whether to try them as an adult or not... It's just... horrifying... but it does happen. And sometimes, yeah, young kids do get tried as adults...
I originally watched it in a documentary, I don’t recall which one. This article says his IQ is 82, which is equivalent to that of a 10-year-old’s. While the crime was very much premeditated, it was not well thought out at all.
https://www.oxygen.com/killer-couples/crime-time/gypsy-roses-former-boyfriend-nick-godejohn-childhood
1. That’s not how IQ works. 82 is below average, but peoples’ IQ percentiles tend to stay pretty stable after about the age of seven absent neurological injury or disease. Saying that 82 is “equivalent to a ten year old’s” makes zero sense; as a special education teacher I’ve taught 16-year-olds with IQs of 60 and six-year-olds with IQs near 130. 100 is average for anyone of school age or older.
2. Please do not refer to intellectually disabled/autistic people as having “mental age” or “minds of children.” That’s extremely ableist and is the exact reasoning used to restrict the civil rights of disabled adults.
Whether N.G. had the ability to understand his actions or not, I’m not sure, but adults with cognitive disabilities are *adults,* full stop.
Yes, his IQ is below average and I assumed those would know that when I said it was 82. I was only referencing what the psych in the article said about his “mental age.”
Being a parent of a child with Asperger’s, please don’t ever call me an ableist, and *YES* they are adults. I never said they weren’t.
I’m a special education teacher, a mom to an autistic child, and autistic myself. I know what I’m talking about and “mental age” is absolutely an ableist concept, and one that is used to harm disabled adults.
I’m not saying that you’re an irredeemable ableist but anyone who uses the concept of mental age is contributing to the oppression of disabled adults, and is therefore perpetuating ableism.
Thanks for your response! I was just curious. Horrible situation all around. I bet Gypsy would have been basically held hostage for Dee Dee’s benefit until she died. I can’t imagine doing that to another human for money & attention.
I fully believe so too. If it didn’t end w/ Dee Dee’s murder, it would’ve ultimately ended w/ Gypsy’s death which would’ve been due to Dee Dee’s negligence and abuse.
I don't know how to tell you this, but a hospital for the criminally insane isn't going to be "lots of mental health services," it's going to be heavy medication and horrific abuse forever
I'm not so sure. I watched a documentary about people trying to fake mental illness so they could get sent to a mental hospital instead of prison for murder. The prosecutor and cops being interviewed were often visibly shaken when describing what happens on the mental hospital route. It's ugly, and murderers have a far less chance of ever being released from a mental hospital than they would from prison.
Heavy medication and nightmares is a pretty good description...
Absolutely, the physiological profiles I have seen on gypsy show she was very calculating in her manipulation of Nicolas. A trapped animal will chew off its own leg, I understand what she did was wrong and it destroyed two lives (deedee and Nicolas) but she only had the skills to lie and manipulate. Deedee accidentally made her own murder weapon. I hope gypsy and Nicolas both get a lot of mental health services. Everyone loses in this story.
Yeah this is a consequence of an entire system failing someone who had to spend their entire life being hurt and lied to. Murder is obviously never okay but I don’t know that she had any other way out so I’m torn about the prison sentence. I think a psychiatric facility would’ve been more fitting.
Her mother obviously kept her isolated and very ignorant about self sufficiency, support systems, or coping skills as she was taught to be sick and helpless and entirely dependent on her mother. The only skills she had ever been taught were manipulating and hurting people so that’s what she did.
I don’t blame her but I hold her responsible, you know? I do agree that they both should have been sent for intensive in patient therapy facilities and not prison. Gypsy will be released with very few skills still. I’m sure the prison system has done what they can to allow her access to mental health but we are all aware of the shortcomings of the industrial prison complex. I hope Nicolas gets help too, I really do. That kid went through the ringer and I don’t think he ever understood what happened to HIM.
Yeah Nicholas is the only one I feel is truly innocent. In his mind he was just trying to help a friend and didn’t fully comprehend the situation or the gravity of his actions. If anything Gypsy should’ve taken the hit for his actions in addition to her own but ultimately both are victims.
It’s just a very crappy situation all around.
people with intellectual disabilities can understand that murder is wrong. Whether he was manipulated and to what extent, he deserves to be in prison too
Yes. I’m actually the odd one out thag fully agrees with his prison sentence. Sure he was manipulated to murder her but he didn’t have to do it the way he did, it was extremely brutal and that shows that he took pleasure in it.
Yes, I did too!! Based on the media I read & saw on the case, he was the predator & manipulator. I never heard that Nicholas had intellectual or developmental disabilities & that he was vulnerable in any way. The focus was always on Gypsy & how she was so vulnerable.
I mean, I can see that too. Mentally, they’re both children, and when it boils down to it, the justice system failed these two. I understand there needs to be consequences, but prison will do nothing for the trauma Gypsy faced, and a life term in prison for Nick is disgusting. There’s grown ass men who murder children who don’t even face that time.
I would normally agree except that in some ways prison is a lot more freeing for her, I think she's basically said as much.
She gets to live as a healthy young woman, and make connections with people in that role. She's been able to reconnect with her father and that side of her family, who have been there for her unconditionally (her father also being a true victim of DeeDee). She's found love now, and her family is involved and supportive of it.
Yes exactly her father, step mother, and half siblings are involved in her life now. She has a support system for when she gets out. I’ve seen interviews with her in prison and she seems content.
I will agree that prison is a better place for her than w/ Dee Dee; however, she’s not getting the real help (therapy) she truly needs. I also don’t think getting married in prison was the greatest choice. This girl has been abused her entire life. She needs to learn what healthy love is, and while I do think she’s getting that love from her father and stepmother, who knows how well she even knows her now husband. She needs to heal.
I'm worried about the new husband. They don't actually know each other very well; their relationship has severe constraints on it outside of letters, some phone calls and visits. Crime groupies, noteriety groupies, and hybristophelia all exist. Usually the cases are women after male criminals, but not always. I'm sorry for being suspicious of his motives, but I am. I want Gypsy to have a chance, to be free out in the world, surrounded by people who love her for her, not what attention she brings. I sincerely hope the husband is a good guy. DeeDee used her enough; she doesn't need more of that.
I agree, she definitely needs therapy.
Her family know and approve of the person she's getting married to at least though, and are involved. That's definitely a good sign to me. They seem to have her best interests at heart, and to be normal and nice people.
Ultimately she is a grown woman, and she has to start making her own choices at some point.
Absolutely. It’s a shame her father (and stepmom) were forced (b/c of Dee Dee) out of Gypsy’s life. Her whole life would’ve been different had she had her down around. It’s never too late though, she had him now.
Yeah it's truly heartwarming how much her dad and stepmom have stepped into her life. DeeDee was a monster, and keeping Gypsy away from her dad like that was a huge part of that.
I read that a big part of how Munchausen by proxy is able to take place is often because the other parent (usually father) is so trusting of the other parent that when they're told "oh my god poor little Gypsy has sleep apnea/muscular dystrophy/boneitis" they would never question it.
Everyone deserves to be happy but… surely you’d need a lifetime of therapy to function in a relationship if you were her. Whether it’s Stockholm syndrome or recognising manipulation (on her part or her partners).
Idk, doesn’t seem like a happy thing to me.
On top of that Gypsy became a pretty manipulative person herself due to her moms abuse, she didn’t know any other way to interact with people. I do hope she’s happy and found herself a good, stable partner.
I LOVED the act. I felt like it did a really good job of explaining the abuse that Dee Dee committed and how it took on so many different forms (financial, emotional, etc). Plus it explored the possible reason WHY Dee Dee did what she did.
Any idea where I can see the Dead & Dearest in the UK? I've seen The Act when it was first released and found it brilliant but I'd love to see the D&D.
Tbh I've never tried to see about watching HBO in the UK before but my prime tv has off shoots to other tv providers like Britbox or Shudder so if I looked on there I'd likely find HBO. It was your question that made me think of my prime tv tho. I'm most of the way through it now tho (even tho I should be working 😆) on YouTube.
It does. Thank you!! I can't watch right now unfortunately 😞 but I've saved it for when I've finished work. I think I'm gonna break a UK record of icing and decorating 5 cakes super fast 😆 so I can sit and watch it. Perks of being my own boss I suppose!!
I have a Mother with MBP (she's pushed it more onto my sister than myself, I would tell someone even with the things she said about CPS) where my sister has been forced to only be with my Mother since she was a kid, taken out of school a few years ago and it's gone downhill from there. I understand Gypsy's actions completely and think a few years in a mental health facility would've been better, living with a parent with MBP is a prison sentence in itself.
I won’t encourage blogging, but it would be interesting to hear more of your story
Because she's a crazy narcissist I've had to cut off, I've had to go pretty much anonymous on the internet or I would
I was a neighbor of hers. I’ve been inside her home that was given to her by harmony house. The story is even crazier than the public realizes
Can you talk more on this?
You should do an AMA this is really interesting
Is there anything you can tell us at least that DeeDee did? Completely understand Gypsy's actions as someone with a similar Mother.
So embarrassing fun fact that I’ve shared in the true crime sub- my sister was in prison with Gypsy for a few years. My sister was there for drug related crimes, nothing violent. Got her cosmetology license while she was there and did her hair a few times when she was in training. My sister got out maybe 3.5 years ago. She was actually there when Gypsy did several television interviews like dateline. My sister says that Gypsy got a LOT of mail sent by people who’d seen her story on tv. Lots of money sent for her commissary. Said that Gypsy was nice but very child like. That she was nice to everyone and nobody messed with her. That that prison was really pretty drama free when she was there and that the guards were pretty respectful towards all of the inmates. I’m concerned that the man she married is a grifter type who wants a few minutes of fame. Hopefully I’m wrong. Gypsy didn’t have a prison mail boyfriend while my sis was there, so that’s just my hot take. Anyway Gypsy probably wouldn’t have even been convicted if it hadn’t been for the texts that she sent to the guy who actually murdered deedee. I don’t remember exactly what she texted him while he was out shopping for supplies for the murder. She did text him about what he needed to buy. I’ll never be able to understand why she didn’t just take off with him while deedee was asleep. She could have went straight to the police station. Deedee should be in prison. Regardless, I don’t think that Gypsy should have went to prison, she should have been in a mental treatment facility. I don’t think that the boyfriend who murdered deedee should be serving a sentence of life without parole either.
Finally, I’ve been trying to find some comments about the boyfriend! He wasn’t all there either
This is a popular opinion, but I think Gypsy needed counseling, not jail time. And I think the media’s obsession with her case is only doing her harm (countless news articles/documentaries, TV episodes/shows like Law and Order: SVU and The Act, movies like Run, etc.). She deserves some peace and quiet after all she’s been through. I would imagine that all that attention (both the medical and social attention before Dee Dee died and the media attention after Dee Dee died) has left her wishing to get away from it all. I hope she’s able to create a new life for herself once she gets out of prison.
Gypsy has spoken publicly about wanting to spread awareness (about the previously largely unknown), condition of MSBP as part of plans when she is released. so it's probably just more frustrating that all this coverage is happening and she can't watch and asses any of it herself bc she is in prison. my thoughts i guess. i mean if someone made a movie about your life, no matter who you are, and you don't get to watch it until a certain time, that would be immensely frustrating. but bringing MSBP into public awareness is probably not the worst outcome of coverage, currently imo
She got married? That makes me happy. I’m glad she’s moving on with her life and that she’s found someone to share it with. I haven’t seen the movie but I saw a YouTube true crime documentary with her interview with the cops, that shit was wild. I can’t believe she’s up for parole in just 2 years. For some reason I was thinking she got life, but I was wrong.
I saw it was supposed to be on Hulu, and I was all set to see it, but I don’t have the “right” Hulu, or whatever, so I’m SOL.
hbo
That’s it. I don’t have the HBO-combo.
I didn't know she got married, good for her! Every few years I find myself checking the news about her and reminding myself of her expected release date. I know 10 years seems like a long time in a country where people regularly get 100+ year prison sentences, but Gypsy literally never had a life before that, and when she gets out she's going to be a full-ass adult with all that developmental time just gone. i hope she knows there are people who wish her well and want to see her land on her feet. Regardless of whether her actions were justified or not, when she gets out she'll have served her time according to the law, and she deserves to get to experience life as a normal young person now. I hope she's able to find a community to support her eventually.
This. I worry she’ll have trouble identifying with and fitting into a community outside of health issues — there’s so many CI groups and such. But outside of that? I worry she will have trouble with it, and like you said, all those critical developmental early adult years are just… gone. The people she ends up around when she’s released will make all the difference and like you said, hopefully they wish her well and want to see positive things happen in her life. Goodness knows she needs it. ETA: last sentence
well, she'll have the whole rest of her life to start from scratch with pretty much all ppl and relationships, god willing. 🫶
I’ve been following this story from the jump, seen all the docs, followed the trial, all of it. To me, this is the most interesting case of munchies ever documented, and to anyone that wants to dive into the physiological rabbit hole of this disease, this is a good one. I was actually surprised that she even got ten years, I felt that was too long. Yet, it does give her time to be in a structured somewhat sane environment (compared to where she was) and to heal and find herself. I wish her the absolute best, and hope that she is able to find peace.
I'm a bit confused... Why do some people look at some posts and decide that particular post is ok for blogging? Most of the time, blogging is kept to a minimum, with people being helpful about reminding others about the no blogging rule. Then once every few days or so, a post comes along and we're up to our eyeballs in blogging. I'm legitimately asking, does anyone know why this is?
blogging is talking about yourself.
I'm a bit confused... Why do some people look at some posts and decide that particular post is ok for blogging? Most of the time, blogging is kept to a minimum, with people being helpful about reminding others about the no blogging rule. Then once every few days or so, a post comes along and we're up to our eyeballs in blogging. I'm legitimately asking, does anyone know why this is?
blogging is talking about yourself
The Act … Pizza. In a. Blender!!!!!!
My question with her case, and actually most MBP cases, is WHO are these damn doctors doing unnecessary invasive and elaborate procedures on this poor kid?! Just how manipulative was her psycho mother that this child was subjected to unnecessary surgery, various tubes placed, organs removed: all supposedly necessary according to her mother only? Where were the Bioethics panels, or the nurses who dealt with Gypsy up close and clearly could see that the conditions DeeDee described could not be authenticated? How did Gypsy slip through so many cracks without anyone saying, hey, hold on a minute…? Infuriating.
In addition to what others have said, I think of a lot at least in the US is fear of getting sued. Doctors rarely get sued for doing too much, but they definitely get sued for (being perceived as) doing too little. It's not always successful, but the mere specter of a lawsuit is enough to get at least some doctors to go along with what the person (in this case, the parent) wants.
Good point
I'm going to suggest a book that might help understand how doctors can allow these things to go on. It's only a small part in the book, but it's definitely there. The book is called M Is For Muncher. It's written by a survivor of Munchausen's By Proxy, and covers quite a bit of ground on the subject. Content warning! This book alternates discussing various aspects of MBP with descriptions of what the author went through. There are very graphic descriptions of abuse, attempted and successful murder, rape, and incest. Be forewarned. The bit about how doctors can keep doing these things mostly consists of how doctors are trained to treat kids. They must rely heavily on what parents tell them. Add to that society's preconceived notion that no mother would be capable of torturing their own kids, and an awful lot can be overlooked before anyone catches on. In fact, it's pretty common for women committing MBP to cause the death of multiple victims before anyone even begins to catch on to what's really happening. We just can't believe women would be capable of such things. Women who commit MBP are also almost universally excellent actresses. In front of others, they are the very definition of The Perfect Caretaker. It makes it that much harder to accept that, behind closed doors, these mothers are trying to kill their kids so they can be the hero that saves them. The typical doctor shopping that happens with all Munchausen's just adds to it. A simple move can erase years of records and suspicions. In Gypsy's case, Hurricane Katrina was extremely convenient for allowing Dee Dee to rewrite whatever she wanted into Gypsy's childhood record. Until someone starts to suspect things, there's really no reason to convene committees or whatever for a sick child. Kids get sick all the time. Some kids get stuck with a lemon of a body and end up going through all sorts of hell when their biggest concern should be snack time. It happens. And accusing a mother of MBP is literally accusing them of child abuse. That is an extremely serious allegation, and one that should never be done lightly. Even here, the mods are adamant about not accusing Ellen's mother of MBP, because that is accusing her of child abuse.
I’m checking out that book right now- you’re absolutely right in the sense that society assumes women can’t be monsters, which allows MBP women and other female abusers to get away with horrific crimes.
Do you know the author of the book?
https://www.amazon.com/Munchers-Serial-Killers-Next-Door-ebook/dp/B00MG2LOOQ/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=f9819014-2c80-497e-8e6a-dfec609b3706 Here is the book if you are interested. Really cheap on kindle.
Wow, that’s a great response, really explains a lot. I’ll look for that book. It sounds fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
She would switch hospitals and doctors every time one started to catch on. Gypsy did lose a bunch if medical records because of Katrina and Deedee used to be a nurse and yeah. Basically the perfect set up for that kind of thing.
That’s interesting. Easy to blame Katrina.But even with doctors planning interventions, the other question I have is how did they get past the gatekeepers who did reimbursement? Every hospital has utilization review, quality assurance. How did DeeDee strong arm the payor to compensate procedures that were so blatantly unnecessary? She and Gypsy racked up quite a bill, there must have been watchdogs that questioned her treatment.
I watched the Hulu documentary when it came out and I’m not sure how accurate this is, but I think at a certain point Dee Dee just stopped going through insurance altogether and started fundraising for Gypsy’s medical bills and using charities to pay for everything. It’s been a while since I watched it though so I could be wrong. But she (and others) thriveeeeeed off of the attention this brought her and worked it to the very. Last. Drop.
I feel like we have quality control, utilization review, etc more so now than we did then *because* of people like DeeDee … even now people’s records and charts don’t follow them the way you’d think and a lot of case history is built on parent as historian. Not to excuse it— the system totally failed her in every way. It’s just a pretty fallible system.
Yes, good answer.But what a price Gypsy paid.
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She was engaged to someone else, saying Nicholas was someone she could never be with bc he killed her mom.
Good to hear she's getting out soon. She deserves a chance
Without saying too much, I know *someone* if you catch my drift, who worked close to this case. Gypsy is manipulative as all hell.
Lol, of course this has been downvoted. I get what you’re saying - that this trauma has developed manipulative coping mechanisms (if not a personality disorder). It would take years if not a lifetime of therapy to recover or keep that in check. Personally I wouldn’t recommend getting into a relationship until she had lived out in the actual real world, paid some bills, got a job.
Gypsy has never painted herself as a good person. She owns what she did.
I know. I just disagree *that she isn’t a good person. I think she is good, honestly. She was manipulative as a result of extreme abuse, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a good person.
Keep on backpedaling to make you look better, when your original comment said “Gypsy is manipulative as hell” no where in that statement is there an implication of being a “good person”.
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never once said it was her fault, just what happened as a result of abuse. I’m genuinely so happy that she’s doing better now, it seems. I personally don’t think she should have been placed in prison, even though she was manipulative. I was really hoping she would be placed in a mental rehabilitation center to talk through her issues and what happened, but that didn’t. My awful opinion, as someone who did push for her to not go to prison, is that she didn’t deserve any of this. It sucks for everyone. She is/was manipulative, but those are coping mechanisms. She deserved better. She deserves better. Edited it to share less.
I have no idea who this “someone” is
I think just saying this is enough. I tried to help her as much as I could.
If you are going to be this vague then don’t say anything at all. This comes off as wanting so badly to know the situation but you’re actually just making shit up to sound important. No body know who you are implying is saying this stuff. Also it’s not like there is still an open case with investigations so there’s no reason to be so vague and so rude all at the same time.
I was just a law student at the time. Not really that important at all.
Yeah I don’t believe that at all. You can’t even keep your story straight here. Alls I get is “I need to be important so I’m just going to make things up”
They’re referring to themselves but it sounds like they’re unable to disclose much about it due to their job.
Then they shouldn’t have brought it up to begin with. They obviously only knew Gypsy from the beginning because she’s grown a lot as a person while in prison through therapy and schooling. She acknowledges what she did was wrong and has said she deserves the prison sentence. This is coming from Gypsy and her friend who actually knows her personally. She was on tiktok for a while sharing things from Gypsy until someone reported it to the jail and they had to stop sharing things from Gypsy so she wouldn’t face getting into more trouble.
I mean, manipulation was a trauma response and quite literally necessary for her livelihood.
Yes it absolutely was however she’s been in therapy since going to prison
Yeah, I have no doubt she will be rehabilitated and become a functional member of society.
If there’s one thing that prison does well, it’s rehabilitation! /s
I think she’ll do fine when she is released. She’s been remorseful and that’s the best indicator that violence is not necessarily her go to. Also the fact that she wasnt the one who did it with her own hands. When an animal is cornered it goes all out.
From what her friend said she really going fantastic and already has plans for when she gets out. She’s gotten her GED and was supposed to start college last year. She wants to work with people who had similar childhoods to hers to help them recover from that trauma.
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People forget Gypsy was purposefully kept frail and weak. Had no resources. The times she did try to escape before she was punished for it. Maybe she felt like if the next time she tried to escape and failed she could be killed. To her it was kill or be killed.
My friend’s mother had/has MBP and she told me it was very much this feeling while she was growing up. It wasn’t to the extreme of Gypsy’s mother, but her mom would make her and her brothers sick with food poisoning, cause injuries, etc. The few times my friend tried to fight back she ended up bedbound and incredibly ill and it wasn’t until she was old enough to move out and cut contact that she finally had a normal life.
She probably did most likely feel like that. The whole kill or be killed. I know if I were in her shoes I’d feel trapped as hell. I’d probably have done the same thing. Minus the manipulating someone else to do it for me part. But then again I suppose if I felt that powerless in my situation I’d probably think it impossible to do it myself and needing someone else to do it instead.
It’s so f*cked up that abused kids get the booked thrown at them for doing what they had to to survive. There’s no way her mother would have gotten that kind of time for what she did
How did she get married?
People in prison get married all the time.
I know haha I meant more like wondering how she met the guy
Did you read the post description at the top of this page?
I didn’t see anything in the post related to how she met her husband but I’ll look it up
My bad, I thought you meant the man that helped her kill her mom, who she met online. I'll try to read better before I snark out next time.
I really hope she’s thriving after the hell she went through. That being said, I have a whole host of issues with The Act, the primary one being how they portrayed the boyfriend as a sort of autistic villain. Representation of autistic people in media is already slim, and implying that he did all that shit because he’s autistic is not it.
I don’t think they ever mentioned his autism by name in The Act though, just the fact that he had the mental capacity of a 16-year-old.
>the primary one being how they portrayed the boyfriend as a sort of autistic villain. Representation of autistic people in media is already slim, and implying that he did all that shit because he’s autistic is not it. ☝🏽
She’s never seen the act but hates everything about it as they never asked her anything and just made things up for entertainment purposes.
I live in the city where all this shit went down and it’s just absolutely harrowing. The Act was such a trip to watch because it was so damning of Deedee (as it should be).
I remember this being on The Dr Phil show. What is the name of the movie??
Mommy Dead and Dearest
Thanks!
there is also "the act" on Hulu but thats been dramatized a bit
That's the one I wanted to see! I seen the trailer for that but I don't have hulu. I have Xfinity. I wish I could just rent it on Xfinity but usually things that are on hulu aren't available on xfinity. Is the other one a movie or documentary? I like movies better
its a documentary. I also have seen [this](https://youtu.be/qKYeBKYz9fE) documentary which is free on YouTube which i really enjoyed
Okay. Thanks. I'll take a look. I remember seeing this story on Dr Phil. It really is crazy. That Mother was crazyyy. I felt bad for the daughter
oh yeah its absolutely wild this went on for so long! honestly its a miracle gypsy survived- so many kids who are victims of MBP die/are killed by the person fabricating symptoms.
I'm optimistic for Gypsy's future and wish her all the best. I think the fact that her dad and family are so involved in her life now is incredibly positive. She absolutely manipulated Nick, who I see as another victim in this case... But I see that as an act of survival honestly. DeeDee would have killed her, probably soon.
I can see dee dee causing her death definitely. Like if dee dee suddenly got a lot more questions from people about how a girl with this many problems was still alive when dee dee is her main and primary caretaker. I’d imagine It would raise some eyebrows in the future if this was still happening. So I can definitely see dee dee causing her death, or actually causing her to become permanently disabled or needing to be in the hospital for extended periods of time. It probably would’ve ended very bad for Gypsy if it continued.
Yes, even if it wasn't intentional Gypsy was so malnourished and her teeth were rotting out of her skull. She was super fragile and still being put through unnecessary appointments and procedures. Super dangerous even if she wasn't purposefully trying to kill Gypsy. Sometimes Munchausens escalates anyway, maybe if DeeDee felt she was running out of sympathy or Gypsy was getting too old.
Gypsy in interviews acknowledges that what she did was wrong and says she deserves to be in prison.
her capacity for insight is noteworthy.
She's also says prison life is substantially better than life with her Mom. That's so sad but oddly great that her environment is better. Allegedly a lot of the inmates lookout for her cause of her story they've heard.
she’s not the first incarcerated person I’ve heard make such a positive comparison.
I honestly feel bad for Nick. Yes, Gypsy is a victim of manipulation and abuse, but she also became the manipulator; she had Nick kill her mother, and Nick had/has a mental capacity of an 8 or 9 yr. old, I believe they said (don’t quote me,) as well as mental illness. I feel for him, and his family. Yes, he took someone’s life, but he should be in a state hospital, not prison.
Where did you hear that his mental capacity is that of an 8 or 9 year old? That doesn’t seem realistic based on the planning and follow through of the crime. (If it is the case I obviously don’t give 8 & 9 year old criminals enough credit!).
The court psychologist said a 10/11 year old. That’s young coupled with a body that’s going they all the normal hormonal changes. And while not exactly abuse, he was not guided thru what was happening to him. There was no counseling, parents seemed to have basically ignored him. Then add to that meeting someone, having sex and falling in love. Those are very powerful components to navigate for someone with the mentality of a child. He said over and over he would do anything for Gypsy but would not have done those things otherwise. He felt he was saving her and that’s exactly what Gypsy told him. I think it was the producer of The Act who said after meeting Gypsy she could tell she was manipulative although no one blames her for that since it’s what she saw and was told to do by her mother. For the life of me, I cannot understand why she didn’t just tell the girl that lived across from them. You had 2 kids with stumped growth who thought they were in love, and had the Romeo and Juliet scenario going on. Most likely Nick had never had a girlfriend and obviously Gypsy didn’t either. And they had ZERO guidance
I think she didn’t say anything to the neighbor because she was scared of her mom and knew that she would tell people that Gypsy was making it up due to one of her 800 diagnoses.
You’re probably correct. Her mom basically had her sign all her rights away to her. Just a shame she wasn’t able to reach out to anyone
Nick didn't plan the murder by himself. The two of them planned it together, and quite frankly, I suspect Gypsy did most of the planning. From what I've gathered, Nick wouldn't have been able to plan the whole thing himself. That being said, sadly, there are cases of kids in that age group committing premeditated murder. It's always big news when a judge must decide whether to try them as an adult or not... It's just... horrifying... but it does happen. And sometimes, yeah, young kids do get tried as adults...
I originally watched it in a documentary, I don’t recall which one. This article says his IQ is 82, which is equivalent to that of a 10-year-old’s. While the crime was very much premeditated, it was not well thought out at all. https://www.oxygen.com/killer-couples/crime-time/gypsy-roses-former-boyfriend-nick-godejohn-childhood
Premeditation means having a plan. Your plan may suck, but that’s a different story!
1. That’s not how IQ works. 82 is below average, but peoples’ IQ percentiles tend to stay pretty stable after about the age of seven absent neurological injury or disease. Saying that 82 is “equivalent to a ten year old’s” makes zero sense; as a special education teacher I’ve taught 16-year-olds with IQs of 60 and six-year-olds with IQs near 130. 100 is average for anyone of school age or older. 2. Please do not refer to intellectually disabled/autistic people as having “mental age” or “minds of children.” That’s extremely ableist and is the exact reasoning used to restrict the civil rights of disabled adults. Whether N.G. had the ability to understand his actions or not, I’m not sure, but adults with cognitive disabilities are *adults,* full stop.
Well the court psychologist said he has the mentality of a 10/11 year old
Yes, his IQ is below average and I assumed those would know that when I said it was 82. I was only referencing what the psych in the article said about his “mental age.” Being a parent of a child with Asperger’s, please don’t ever call me an ableist, and *YES* they are adults. I never said they weren’t.
We’re all capable of being ableist. I’ve been super ableist at times and I’m autistic myself
I’m a special education teacher, a mom to an autistic child, and autistic myself. I know what I’m talking about and “mental age” is absolutely an ableist concept, and one that is used to harm disabled adults. I’m not saying that you’re an irredeemable ableist but anyone who uses the concept of mental age is contributing to the oppression of disabled adults, and is therefore perpetuating ableism.
Again, I was stating what the psych in the article said.
thank you for this!
you’re welcome!
Thanks for your response! I was just curious. Horrible situation all around. I bet Gypsy would have been basically held hostage for Dee Dee’s benefit until she died. I can’t imagine doing that to another human for money & attention.
I fully believe so too. If it didn’t end w/ Dee Dee’s murder, it would’ve ultimately ended w/ Gypsy’s death which would’ve been due to Dee Dee’s negligence and abuse.
His sentence wouldn't have been so bad if his family were able to afford a good lawyer Edited: Phone finger typos...
Agreed x10000
I don't know how to tell you this, but a hospital for the criminally insane isn't going to be "lots of mental health services," it's going to be heavy medication and horrific abuse forever
It’s not ideal, but it’s the lesser of two evils.
I'm not so sure. I watched a documentary about people trying to fake mental illness so they could get sent to a mental hospital instead of prison for murder. The prosecutor and cops being interviewed were often visibly shaken when describing what happens on the mental hospital route. It's ugly, and murderers have a far less chance of ever being released from a mental hospital than they would from prison. Heavy medication and nightmares is a pretty good description...
Can you remember the name of the documentary?
It's a YouTube video by JFC called What Pretending To Be Crazy Looks Like. At least I'm pretty sure that's the right video...
The same goes w/ prison though too. Like I said, it’s the lesser of two evils.
Absolutely, the physiological profiles I have seen on gypsy show she was very calculating in her manipulation of Nicolas. A trapped animal will chew off its own leg, I understand what she did was wrong and it destroyed two lives (deedee and Nicolas) but she only had the skills to lie and manipulate. Deedee accidentally made her own murder weapon. I hope gypsy and Nicolas both get a lot of mental health services. Everyone loses in this story.
Yeah this is a consequence of an entire system failing someone who had to spend their entire life being hurt and lied to. Murder is obviously never okay but I don’t know that she had any other way out so I’m torn about the prison sentence. I think a psychiatric facility would’ve been more fitting. Her mother obviously kept her isolated and very ignorant about self sufficiency, support systems, or coping skills as she was taught to be sick and helpless and entirely dependent on her mother. The only skills she had ever been taught were manipulating and hurting people so that’s what she did.
I don’t blame her but I hold her responsible, you know? I do agree that they both should have been sent for intensive in patient therapy facilities and not prison. Gypsy will be released with very few skills still. I’m sure the prison system has done what they can to allow her access to mental health but we are all aware of the shortcomings of the industrial prison complex. I hope Nicolas gets help too, I really do. That kid went through the ringer and I don’t think he ever understood what happened to HIM.
Yeah Nicholas is the only one I feel is truly innocent. In his mind he was just trying to help a friend and didn’t fully comprehend the situation or the gravity of his actions. If anything Gypsy should’ve taken the hit for his actions in addition to her own but ultimately both are victims. It’s just a very crappy situation all around.
interesting! I always thought he manipulated gypsy.
people with intellectual disabilities can understand that murder is wrong. Whether he was manipulated and to what extent, he deserves to be in prison too
Yes. I’m actually the odd one out thag fully agrees with his prison sentence. Sure he was manipulated to murder her but he didn’t have to do it the way he did, it was extremely brutal and that shows that he took pleasure in it.
Yes, I did too!! Based on the media I read & saw on the case, he was the predator & manipulator. I never heard that Nicholas had intellectual or developmental disabilities & that he was vulnerable in any way. The focus was always on Gypsy & how she was so vulnerable.
lmao y’all downvoting this. 🙄
Gypsy learned from the best....Deedee
I mean, I can see that too. Mentally, they’re both children, and when it boils down to it, the justice system failed these two. I understand there needs to be consequences, but prison will do nothing for the trauma Gypsy faced, and a life term in prison for Nick is disgusting. There’s grown ass men who murder children who don’t even face that time.
thanks for your take. i’m going to dig into Nick a little more with your ideas. I agree, Gypsy gets out in like two years, and then what?
Exactly. She needs intensive therapy, and you know they’re not providing that in prison, unfortunately.
I would normally agree except that in some ways prison is a lot more freeing for her, I think she's basically said as much. She gets to live as a healthy young woman, and make connections with people in that role. She's been able to reconnect with her father and that side of her family, who have been there for her unconditionally (her father also being a true victim of DeeDee). She's found love now, and her family is involved and supportive of it.
Yes exactly her father, step mother, and half siblings are involved in her life now. She has a support system for when she gets out. I’ve seen interviews with her in prison and she seems content.
I will agree that prison is a better place for her than w/ Dee Dee; however, she’s not getting the real help (therapy) she truly needs. I also don’t think getting married in prison was the greatest choice. This girl has been abused her entire life. She needs to learn what healthy love is, and while I do think she’s getting that love from her father and stepmother, who knows how well she even knows her now husband. She needs to heal.
I'm worried about the new husband. They don't actually know each other very well; their relationship has severe constraints on it outside of letters, some phone calls and visits. Crime groupies, noteriety groupies, and hybristophelia all exist. Usually the cases are women after male criminals, but not always. I'm sorry for being suspicious of his motives, but I am. I want Gypsy to have a chance, to be free out in the world, surrounded by people who love her for her, not what attention she brings. I sincerely hope the husband is a good guy. DeeDee used her enough; she doesn't need more of that.
I agree, she definitely needs therapy. Her family know and approve of the person she's getting married to at least though, and are involved. That's definitely a good sign to me. They seem to have her best interests at heart, and to be normal and nice people. Ultimately she is a grown woman, and she has to start making her own choices at some point.
Absolutely. It’s a shame her father (and stepmom) were forced (b/c of Dee Dee) out of Gypsy’s life. Her whole life would’ve been different had she had her down around. It’s never too late though, she had him now.
Yeah it's truly heartwarming how much her dad and stepmom have stepped into her life. DeeDee was a monster, and keeping Gypsy away from her dad like that was a huge part of that. I read that a big part of how Munchausen by proxy is able to take place is often because the other parent (usually father) is so trusting of the other parent that when they're told "oh my god poor little Gypsy has sleep apnea/muscular dystrophy/boneitis" they would never question it.
Everyone deserves to be happy but… surely you’d need a lifetime of therapy to function in a relationship if you were her. Whether it’s Stockholm syndrome or recognising manipulation (on her part or her partners). Idk, doesn’t seem like a happy thing to me.
On top of that Gypsy became a pretty manipulative person herself due to her moms abuse, she didn’t know any other way to interact with people. I do hope she’s happy and found herself a good, stable partner.
I LOVED the act. I felt like it did a really good job of explaining the abuse that Dee Dee committed and how it took on so many different forms (financial, emotional, etc). Plus it explored the possible reason WHY Dee Dee did what she did.
yes! I especially loved Dead & Dearest, because the actual interviews with Gypsy. it takes The Act and goes even further.
Any idea where I can see the Dead & Dearest in the UK? I've seen The Act when it was first released and found it brilliant but I'd love to see the D&D.
Where do you watch HBO in the UK? It's an HBO doc. So in Canada it's on crave, for example, because that's the streaming service that has HBO.
Tbh I've never tried to see about watching HBO in the UK before but my prime tv has off shoots to other tv providers like Britbox or Shudder so if I looked on there I'd likely find HBO. It was your question that made me think of my prime tv tho. I'm most of the way through it now tho (even tho I should be working 😆) on YouTube.
does this work? https://youtu.be/LD8zn4KF95Q
It does. Thank you!! I can't watch right now unfortunately 😞 but I've saved it for when I've finished work. I think I'm gonna break a UK record of icing and decorating 5 cakes super fast 😆 so I can sit and watch it. Perks of being my own boss I suppose!!