Gypsy Rose Part 4: Woman once praised for battle with illness revealed to have never been sick

[Music] Blanchard is caught in a web of secrets and lies even her ages in dispute she's behind bars and charged with murdering her mother 48 year-old DeeDee Blanchard known to the community as a loving caregiver for a sickly gypsy how did you go from this to this [Music] I want to see as a fall from grace I thought back then that I was a good person and now I just see it as it was a fraud and I made a horrible mistake a horrible mistake because it turns out that little pink house on hope and volunteer way was actually the nerve center from which the so called doting mother perpetrated an elaborate scam preying on the sympathies of countless good Samaritans we have unearthed the appearance of a long financial fraud scheme along with this tragic event celebrities charities even cartoon characters all caught I was disappointed that I had been duped what medical conditions did you believe you suffered from leukemia asthma both vision and hearing impaired muscular dystrophy and seizures did you always know you could walk if you wanted to yes she told you you had to stay in a wheelchair when you could walk how did she convince you to do that I was so young so me looking up to her so much I'm just believing that she knows best I didn't question it did you believe you were sick there are certain illnesses that I knew I didn't have I knew that I didn't need the feeding tube I knew that I could eat and I knew that I could walk but I did believe my mother when she said that I had leukemia tell me about didi what kind of mom was she very protective do you think she protected you no not in in certain ways yes in other ways no I think that she was very sick in her mind for a long time I believe like who were best friends I mean when I was younger she was my best friend she was your only friend yes other than my stuffed animals and so I thought that she was a great mother no complaints we got along so perfect you know I saw her as an angel that can do no wrong but as Gypsy got older and became curious about life outside the little pink house she says mom DeeDee began exerting more control what happens when she got upset with you and we'd go into an argument that would last a couple days or it could be something where she wouldn't see me for two days or so we're here for physical with you it started to be physical in 2011 she would hit me with a coat hanger sometimes did you ever fight back yeah because I was too afraid to gypsy says she did try and run away once but DeeDee found her a few hours later and there were consequences she physically changed you to the perfectly chained me to the bed and plant bells on the doors did you ever consider in a public place if you stood up out of your wheelchair and walked DD's fraud would be completely exposed I honestly didn't think about that it never crossed your mind No so instead of planning an elaborate escape you planned a murder yes public defender Mike Stanfield has the extremely daunting task of coming up with a legal defense for gypsy the evidence against her keeps mounting in my 10 years of practice this case by far had the most discovery that I've ever had close to a hundred CDs worth of papers photos and digital information but it's a field trip alongside gypsies dad and stepmom he says proves to be the most helpful while the outside of gypsies house is pretty in pink the inside a chaos of clutter frankly it was a disaster there was stuff everywhere I could tell dd-did a lot of just hoarding and stuff piled up I mean like chest high to the back of the room one of the bedrooms had so many items piled into it that you couldn't even walk into it but amongst the photos on the wall and the den of disorder some clues the thing that shocked me the most was at the closet inside Gypsys house I was like holy y'all need to get it over here right now and look at this I mean my mouth dropped from the top to the bottom full of so many medications this isn't your ordinary medicine cabinet it's Dee Dee's personal pharmacy a large linen closet fully stocked she had even written on several of the bottles of Gypsys medication as if she was writing it for a child for the anti-seizure medication it would say shakey baby the organization of the medications was shocking to me because in every other area of Dee Dee's life it appeared that she had absolutely no organization or cleanliness except when it came to these medications it let me know from the very beginning that something here was seriously wrong wrong because it turns out not only can walk she says she's never been sick not cancer not epilepsy not anything the only thing that I have wrong with me is I have a little bit of a lazy eye not all the time but I have better vision and this eye that I keep that eye that's it that's it that's it nothing else nothing

Channel: ABC News

Views: 10,588,111

Keywords: gypsy rose blancharde, gypsy rose blancharde abc news part 3, documentary, trailer, gypsy rose 2020, abc 2020, 2020 episodes, the act, the act hulu, the act real story, true story, Dee Dee Blanchard, Habitat for Humanity, Dee Dee Blanchard death, Munchausen syndrome, Nick Godejohn, caregivers, murder, abuse, child abuse, plot, gypsy blanchard, abc news part 4, interview, today, stepdad

Id: ie4LQWlx4mo

Length: 6min 56sec (416 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2019