Gypsy Rose Blanchard is pregnant.
The author and reality TV star, 32, who spent eight years in prison for his role in the 2015 murder of his allegedly abusive motherClauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, announced on July 9 in a YouTube video that she and boyfriend Ken Urker They were expecting their first child.
In her video, titled “I’m Pregnant, My Journey So Far,” Gypsy Rose Blanchard revealed that she was 11 weeks pregnant and due in January 2025.
“This was not planned at all. This was completely unexpected, but we are both so excited to embark on this new journey of parenthood,” Blanchard said in the video, which she also excerpted. on TikTok.
Blanchard, who was released from prison in December 2023addressed concerns.
“I know there will be people who feel like I’m not ready to be a mother,” she said. Her response? “I don’t know if anyone is really ready to be a mother.”
“I just want to be a good mother to my son. I want to be everything my mother wasn’t,” she said.
Blanchard is believed to have been a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which a caregiver makes someone sick or creates the illusion that they are sick in order to receive attention.
Dee Dee Blanchard, Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s mother, “was convinced that Gypsy suffered from a wide range of health problems,” according to Ozarks first.
During her trial, Gypsy Rose Blanchard described how her mother sought medical attention for her throughout her life to treat her for various conditions – including leukemia and muscular dystrophy – that she never actually had.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard detailed how she was forced to use a wheelchair and an oxygen tank even though she needed neither. according to the Springfield News-Leader.
She also admitted on the stand that she arranged for her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to kill her mother, according to Ozarks first.
Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after first pleading not guilty to stabbing Dee Dee Blanchard to death in her bedroom. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Potosi Correctional Center, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
Blanchard met Urker after he wrote her a “letter of support” while she was in prison in 2017, she said AND! News in 2019. Urker proposed to Blanchard while she was still behind bars in 2018.
The two later split in 2019. Blanchard went on to marry another man, Ryan Anderson, at a prison wedding ceremony in 2022.
Blanchard bI started spending time with Urker again earlier this year following his split with Anderson. In an interview with TODAY.com earlier this yearAnderson said he felt “blindsided” by the split.
“I’m just experiencing things as they come. I’m still in reflection and processing mode,” he says. “A lot has happened. It’s hard to understand a lot of things that happened because I mean, when I say I was taken by surprise, I really am caught off guard about how quickly things progressed.
Blanchard confirmed to People in May that she and Urker were together againsaying for the first time in her life that she is “doing something that makes me happy – I’m prioritizing myself.”
In her video announcement about her pregnancy, Blanchard said Urker supports her as she goes through “mood swings” during her pregnancy.
“I’ve experienced crazy mood swings. Poor Ken. Like, poor Ken,” she said, adding that she gets irritated with Urker even if he just “breathes wrong.”
“He’s been very gracious about it. He’s been very lenient about it,” she added.
Blanchard also mentioned dealing with some fatigue, but said that overall her pregnancy “was very easy” and noted that her baby was healthy.
Blanchard told viewers that her pregnancy has brought her peace of mind. “I feel a change in myself. When I found out I was pregnant, nothing else mattered,” she said. “The drama, the social media, the rivalry between the creator and me and all that drama, it all disappeared. It didn’t matter anymore.”
“All that matters is making sure I’m healthy, the baby is healthy, my relationship with Ken is healthy and we’re moving forward in a positive way,” she added.
TODAY.com reached out to Blanchard for comment.
This article was originally published in TODAY.com
