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Gypsy Rose Blanchard visited “The View” Friday and had to navigate a pretty uncomfortable on-air moment with co-host Joy Behar.
Blanchard, 32, was released from prison last week after serving nearly a decade behind bars for second-degree murder in the death of her abusive mother in 2015. During her interview, Blanchard spoke about her future plans, which include doing advocacy work for other abuse victims. She then addressed the camera.
“If there is someone out there watching right now, please listen to me, heed my words, that you are not alone in this situation,” she said. “There are other ways out. I did it the wrong way, um, so—”
“No, no, honey, no,” Behar said, cutting Blanchard off. “Don’t say that.”
“Well, I did—” Blanchard said.
“You had no choice,” Behar said.
“I did something wrong,” Blanchard said. “And I paid my dues for it.”
“Oh, you mean that part,” Behar said with a sheepish smile, and began to backpedal.
“Yes,” Blanchard said. “That part of it.”
“Where are you going with this, Joy?” one of Behar’s co-hosts shouted from off camera.
“Murder is wrong, Joy,” co-host Ana Navarro said, mock-patiently.
“Yes, murder’s wrong,” Blanchard said with an awkward laugh.
A clip of the moment made its way onto X, formerly Twitter, where users certainly found humor in Behar’s seeming suggestion that murder is OK sometimes.
But many others agreed with Behar — who was likely referring to the horrific abuse Blanchard was forced to endure. Some people said that due to the circumstances of Blanchard’s case, they understood her actions.
Blanchard’s mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, lied to her about her health since early childhood and made her believe she had several illnesses and conditions she did not actually have, including leukemia, muscular dystrophy, brain damage and an unspecified chromosomal disorder.
In order to sell the scam, Clauddine Blanchard forced her daughter to use a wheelchair, shaved her head and had a doctor install a feeding tube in her stomach. Clauddine, who was also physically abusive, exploited Gypsy Rose’s fake illnesses for personal gain and convinced their community that the charade was authentic — which kept her daughter isolated and in a state of arrested development.
Gypsy Rose realized later in life that she was not sick at all, and at age 19, she conspired with her then boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill her mother. Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder after stabbing Clauddine Blanchard to death in her home in Springfield, Missouri, in 2015. He was sentenced to life in prison.
During her appearance on “The View,” Gypsy Rose was asked about her critics who claim she’s using her notoriety for financial gain. She explained her reasons for being so public now that her sentence is up.
“I’m a very private person, and I don’t like the fame,” Blanchard said. “But the one thing that I can do with it is some good. So, I’m not in it for fame or fortune. My story is important to me, it happened to me, and I just want to be an advocate. I want to be somebody that can help others. That’s seriously all that I want.”