Gypsy Rose Blanchard said she felt “lost” in her marriage to her estranged husband, Ryan Anderson, in a new interview with People. Opening up about her split from Anderson for the first time, Blanchard said she has no regrets about making the difficult decision to walk away from the relationship.
“I think that there is a sense of freedom of following your heart, following what you feel like is right for you,” Blanchard said when discussing the end of her relationship with Anderson. “In my marriage, I felt like a part of me was lost in it, and so I feel like I found that missing piece of myself that I always felt was lost and now reclaiming that back. I definitely feel a sense of belonging in that space.”
Blanchard and Anderson married in 2022 when the former was still in prison for her role in the murder of her mother. After Blanchard was released last December, the couple moved in together and seemed to be doing well, with Blanchard saying in a 20/20 interview one week after her release, “I’m living my best married life with my husband.”
But in March, Blanchard revealed that she and Anderson had decided to separate and that she’d moved back in with her father and stepmother in Louisiana. According to reports, there had been rumors that Blanchard found Anderson too “controlling,” but Anderson has denied this behavior. The couple are now in the process of getting a divorce.
“It’s heartbreaking, because no one gets married to get a divorce,” Blanchard said. “Processing those emotions has been hard.”
In the wake of the split, Blanchard has reportedly gotten back together with Ken Urker, whom she met while he was also in prison, through a pen pal program. The couple was even engaged before Blanchard wound up marrying Anderson.
Of her relationship with Urker, Blanchard (who’s currently writing a memoir) said, “I’m in love. He was a support when I was going through emotional hardship. But then I let myself open up to the feelings I’ve always had for him. For the first time in my life, I’m doing something that makes me happy — I’m prioritizing me.”
Blanchard spent seven years in prison after pleading guilty to her role in the killing of her abusive mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. The case gained particular notoriety after it came out that Dee Dee — who appeared to suffer from Munchhausen by proxy — had spent years making Blanchard believe she was disabled and chronically ill, even subjecting her to unnecessary surgeries and medication. Dee Dee further convinced others that Blanchard was afflicted with a variety of illnesses while collecting donations from various charities like the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for conspiring to kill Dee Dee with her boyfriend at the time, Nicholas Godejohn. Godejohn is serving a life sentence for the murder and is not eligible for parole.
