Since her release from prison in December 2023 for her role in the murder of her abusive mother Dee Dee, Gypsy Rose Blanchard has been an omnipresent tabloid fixture, making headlines for her burgeoning influencer career, her post-prison glow-up, and her relationship with her then-husband, Ryan Anderson (whom she famously defended in an Instagram comment by proclaiming his “D was fire”).
Over the course of the past six months, however, Blanchard’s life has changed drastically. In March, she announced she was divorcing Anderson, rekindling a relationship with her former prison pen pal Ken Urker shortly afterwards. Now, in yet another plot twist, the 32-year-old Blanchard announced on July 9 that she is 11 weeks pregnant with Urker’s baby, revealing that her first child is due in January 2025.
“We’re both very excited,” Blanchard said in the video, titled, “I’m Pregnant, My Journey So Far.” “This was not planned at all. It was completely unexpected. But we’re both very excited to take on this new journey of parenthood.”
Blanchard first made headlines in 2015, when she was arrested with ex-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn and charged with the murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. As documented by a Buzzfeed article about the case and the Hulu series The Act, Dee Dee suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy — also known as factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA) — a rare mental illness in which a caregiver pretends that their child is ill, subjecting Gypsy Rose to unnecessary medical procedures and interventions and imprisoning her in their home. Blanchard pled guilty to second degree murder for conspiring to murder Dee Dee and served seven years in prison before her 2023 release. (Godejohn is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.)
In the weeks following her release, Gypsy Rose has taken advantage of her newfound freedom by making the media circuit rounds, appearing in a documentary titled Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup and giving numerous interviews. In many of those interviews, she extolled her partner at the time, Ryan Anderson, whom she wed while she was still in prison. She told 20/20 following her release, “I’m living my best married life.”
In March, however, Blanchard announced that she was divorcing Anderson, telling People in an interview that she felt “lost” in her marriage. She has since reconnected with her former fiancé Ken Urker, whom she also met in prison and was briefly engaged to in 2018. “After reconnecting earlier this month, we realized that our love for each other is simply undeniable, and life is too short to not take a chance,” Blanchard told TMZ in April. (For his part, Anderson has not gone gently into that good night, and has taken to TikTok to tell his side of the story, alleging that Gypsy has continued to contact him after their breakup.)
In her YouTube video, Blanchard revealed that she learned she was pregnant with Urker’s baby after she missed her period, detailing her pregnancy symptoms such as cravings, fatigue, and mood swings. She also briefly alluded to criticism from followers who have expressed concern that she is “not ready” to be a mother, due to the fact that it has only been a few months since her release from prison. “I don’t know if anyone is really ready to be a mother,” she said. “I don’t know anyone that said, ‘OK, I’m doing this.’ In my experience, everyone I’ve ever talked to, they’re just like, ‘It happened.'”
Blanchard also appeared to reference the controversy surrounding her and Anderson’s relationship. “When I found out I was pregnant, nothing else mattered,” she said. “The social media drama… it all faded. It didn’t matter anymore. All that matters is making sure that I’m healthy, the baby’s healthy, my relationship with Ken is healthy, and we are moving forward in a positive way.”
