Gypsy Rose Blanchard
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has offered wise words to Erik and Lyle Menendez in the case of the brothers being released from prison.
Blanchard, 33, who was released from Missouri’s Chillicothe Correctional Centre in December 2023 where she served seven years after pleading guilty to the 2015 second-degree murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blacnchard, discussed the Menendez brothers with TMZ on Sunday, October 13.
She told the outlet that if a new trial or resentencing is confirmed for the Mendendez brothers, who were convicted of murdering their parents in Beverly Hills in 1989 and are the subject of the Netflix series The Menendez Brothers, the pair should not rush their return to society. (Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón confirmed on October 3 that a hearing for the brothers is being considered due to the submission of new evidence.)
“It’s very difficult to come out to a world that has changed so much even in the time that I spent [in prison] … I would say take your time, you know, adjust properly,” Blanchard told the outlet prior to boarding a flight at LAX. “And get therapy because you need it in this kind of world [and] day and age.”
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Blanchard, who is pregnant with her first child to boyfriend Ken Urker, acknowledged that she is “not very educated” in the Mendendez case, which has attracted global attention since the Netflix series premiered on October 7, but reiterated her passion for abuse victims’ rights to be recognized.
“I’m an advocate for abuse victims in general and I’m all about prison reform so … if the case is being reviewed, then hopefully something can be done,” Blanchard said. “Abuse victims need to be advocated for more.”
Erik Menendez (left) and Lyle Menendez (right)
The outlet told Blanchard that Kim Kardashian has sided with the Mendendez brothers, penning an October 3 essay for NBC News that detailed her avocation on the brothers’ sentences being “reconsidered,” leading Blanchard to commend her.
“Kim is a wise woman. She makes good decisions in her prison reform era,” Blanchard said.
Blanchard was placed behind bars after her ex-boyfriend at the time, Nicholas Godejohn, killed Dee Dee after he and Blanchard planned her allegedly abusive mother’s murder. Godejohn, who was also arrested in 2015, is serving a life sentence without parole for first-degree murder after being convicted of the crime in 2018.
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It was reported that Dee Dee suffered from a mental illness known as Manchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which a caretaker makes someone ill or creates the illusion of them being ill in order to receive attention. It is believed that Blanchard was a victim of this disorder.
While Blanchard is clearly relishing her new life as she counts down to motherhood, she experienced a turbulent love life following her prison release. After marrying Ryan Scott Anderson in 2022 during her time behind bars, she filed for divorce in April.
Later that month, she confirmed that she was back together with her former fiancé Urker, whom she met through a pen pal program in prison.