This week on Barely Famous, Kail sits down with Gypsy Rose Blanchard to discuss her new book, which chronicles her experiences growing up under her mother’s control, enduring Munchausen by proxy abuse, and finding her voice after years of silence. Gypsy gets into her complex family dynamics, her time in prison, and the challenges she faced along the way—from battling addiction to navigating relationships. She also shares profound insights on resilience, redemption, and charting a path forward. Gypsy's Book: https://benbellabooks.com/shop/my- time-to-stand/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gypsyrose.ig/?hl=en Please support the show by checking out our sponsors! Oak Essentials: Go to oakessentials.com and use the code barelyfamous15 to get 15% off. Fabric: Apply today in just minutes at meetfabric.com/BARELYFAMOUS Qualia: Go to Qualialife.com/FAMOUS for up to 50% off and use code FAMOUS at checkout for an additional 15% off. Posh Peanut: Go to PoshPeanut.com/FAMOUS, and use promo code FAMOUS for 20% off your first order. Rocket Money: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/FAMOUS See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What inspired Gypsy to write her book?
Welcome to the shit show. Things are going to get weird. It's your fave villain, Kale Lowry. And you're listening to Barely Famous. All right, Gypsy, thank you for coming on the Barely Famous podcast. Thank you for having me. Of course. So I read your book cover to cover in a couple hours. Yeah. And I'm really excited to talk about it. I run an online book club. So this was right up my alley.
You have been in the headlines for probably 10 years now. Does that sound about right?
About right, yeah.
Why now? Why are we writing a book now? Is there a reason?
Well, it's not exactly right now. I've been working on it for about three years. Okay. The portion that was the final pieces was editing, and that came after I got released.
Okay. So it's been a work in progress for a long time.
It has.
And there was some things in the book that I... I was surprised to read because, you know, we hear all kinds of things in the media and people come up with their own theories. But was writing this and sort of going through this entire process for you cathartic and sort of like therapy for you?
was um it was challenging at times because I had to kind of ask for information from family members because like I know I know my side of things but I don't know the full picture so I had to talk to family and to talk to you know friends um to get a lot of information that I didn't know about right so do you ever talk about your relationship and where they stand today with
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Chapter 2: How did Gypsy's childhood affect her adult relationships?
That is so hard for me to wrap my head around. How do you feel about that when you think about it?
It's very bizarre. It's very bizarre now looking back on it.
But that was my normal. Right. So during that time, you didn't know any different. No. That was my normal. What is people's reaction similar to mine where it's just like you truly are addicted to narcotics and drinking out of a baby bottle?
Yeah. It's two ends of a spectrum and somehow I landed right between them.
And then- The night of the crime happens and then you are – you couldn't take the baby bottle to prison. Right. So what was that like? Was it sort of like a cold turkey cut off the bottle sort of deal? Yeah.
It's like I had taken the narcotics. I didn't pack a baby bottle. I just kind of left my old life behind entirely.
So in some ways that had to be liberating. Yeah.
It was. It was liberating, but also scary. It was new territory. Like for me, when I'm trying something new or I'm entering into a zone that I've never experienced before, I get a lot of anxiety about it.
Yeah. I mean, rightfully so. I feel like your entire life had to be built off of anxiety. I cannot imagine. So CPS comes just one time in your entire life. Entire life. I don't even have words because I've seen CPS get involved in situations for much, much less and either do something or don't. And so when you look back, I mean –
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Gypsy face during her time in prison?
At the time, did it even cross your mind to tell CPS what was going on?
I didn't even know who they were. So I want to make it clear that when I grew up, like, okay, so most parents, to kind of discipline their children, you know, they're like, oh, the boogeyman's going to get you. Right. Okay. So my mom never said the boogeyman. My mom said the state boogeyman.
So I grew up being afraid of people that I thought were bad people that were going to take me away from her. And they were called the state. And so what I didn't know back then was she was telling me to be afraid of CPS. Right. And I didn't know that then. It wasn't until after I got out of prison that I kind of figured it all out. Right, right. And so when they came, I didn't know who they were.
I'm like, do they work with the police? And they're asking me questions like, do I have bruises on my arms and legs?
Right.
And did you? I didn't. I didn't at that point in time. I didn't. However, they weren't asking me the right questions. And that is kind of like where I fell through. That's kind of like where I put a lot of like guilt on me is because I'm like, why didn't I just tell them this?
Well, you're a kid. You didn't know any different. And you were also told to be basically taught to be afraid of them.
Exactly. So I'm like, you know, even though at this point I would have been a teenager.
Right.
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Chapter 4: How did Gypsy cope with her mother's control?
Okay. Makes sense. Was this to Dan's where you ask the neighbor – or is this the second time that you run away that you get to the neighborhood and you knock on somebody random's door?
That was the first time. So that was with Dan. Yeah. Okay.
So he's in the hospital. Okay. So you just knock on some random person's door?
I did. So – It was the community, the housing community that was right on the side of the Habitat for Humanity community.
Okay.
So it was literally up the street. Okay. And I knock on the first person's door that I see. And you're like, my, my. I'm like, my, I called him my boyfriend.
Yeah, yeah.
And I was like, my boyfriend is in the hospital. Can I get a ride? They didn't know who you were? They didn't know who I was. But I was, I was, I wore a long blonde wig. I had, I still remember what I was wearing. I had a long blonde wig. I had a oversized, like too big of a red bra. It was like two sizes too big. A black tank top, jeans that were too big, and a Harry Potter hoodie.
Did they think you were on drugs?
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