19 things you may not have noticed while watching “Mommy Dead and Dearest”
It has been more than a week since Mommy Dead and Dearest premiered on HBO, but the devastating story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blancharde, child abuse, and Munchausen syndrome by proxy is not one that you can easily forget. If you have not yet watched the documentary, emotionally prepare yourself — the disturbing details will stay with you.
At the same time, the story of Dee and Gypsy is so unbelievable, and the lies are so complex and layered, it’s difficult to entirely process their story after just one viewing.
With this in mind, here are 19 things you may not have noticed when watching Mommy Dead and Dearest.
1. Gypsy’s mom had her daughter on Xanax at the time she was murdered. According to Gypsy, that’s why she felt nothing when her mother was being stabbed by boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn.
2. Gypsy and Nicholas were alert to the fact that they needed to get rid of the murder weapon after Dee Dee was murdered. They mailed it to his parents’ home.
3. Gypsy and Dee’s joint Facebook account is still alive. Though, it is now a memorial page.
That Bitch is dead!
Posted by Dee Gyp Blancharde on Sunday, June 14, 2015
4. At age 1, Gypsy knew what her “cranial” and “phalanges” were, and she could point to them. She appeared to be incredibly intelligent at such a young age.
5. Gypsy was taught to manually move her legs, which we see in the clip Dee Dee filmed of her daughter falling in the snow.
6. Dee Dee kept her own “medical record” of Gypsy’s diagnosis. This is what she used to inform doctors of her daughter’s condition.
7. Dee Dee did not have a medicine cabinet. Instead, she used an entire closet to house all of Gypsy’s medication.
8. This was not Dee Dee’s first transgression. She was wanted for fraud in parts of Louisiana. Her family also insinuated that she murdered her birth mother and poisoned her stepmom.
9. “I’ll be a good girl” is what Gypsy said to her stepmom and father when they parted during their prison visit. This is exactly what she would say when her mother was upset with her, meaning that she still retains this behavior.
10. According to Gypsy, her mother’s last words (hours before her murder) were: “Don’t hurt me.”
11. Gypsy was able to set up a secret Facebook account and a profile on a Christian dating website.
12. Gypsy had thousands of dollars in her possession when she ran away with Nicholas.
13. Dee Dee practiced witchcraft when she was younger.
14. Before she murdered her mother and ran away with Nicholas, Gypsy ran away with another man.
15. Gypsy stated that she has lied to her attorneys.
16. Dee Dee created a false narrative around surviving Hurricane Katrina; this granted her an excuse for why she didn’t have copies of Gypsy’s medical records.
17. The medication Dee Dee forced Gypsy to take likely caused many symptoms that mimicked serious diseases.
18. As a young woman, Dee Dee participated in local beauty pageants.
19. Despite pretending to be paralyzed, Gypsy clearly maintained some muscle mass in her legs — and it was noticed by at least one doctor.
Did you miss any of these?
