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'The b**** is dead': Daughter who was forced to pretend she was disabled kills her mother, new documentary shows | 'The b**** is dead': Daughter who was forced to pretend she was disabled kills her mother, new documentary shows |
(about 17 hours later) | |
A 23-year-old woman, who was forced to pretend to be disabled from childhood, ordered her mother to be stabbed to death before announcing on Facebook “the b**** is dead.” | |
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who had been wheelchair-bound for 10 years, was found guilty, along with her boyfriend, for her role in the murder of her 48-year-old mother Dee Dee Blanchard in June 2015. | |
However she accepted a 10-year plea deal for second degree murder after Blanchard’s attorney revealed her mother had forced her to pretend to be disabled since childhood. | |
Rod Blanchard, Blanchard's father and Ms Blanchard's ex-husband, told the New York Post he was in "total shock" when he saw his daughter walk into the courtroom, the first time he realised she was not actually disabled. | |
Blanchard was forced into a wheelchair and held prisoner for years in the home she shared with her mother in Springfield, Missouri, her attorney told the court at the time. | Blanchard was forced into a wheelchair and held prisoner for years in the home she shared with her mother in Springfield, Missouri, her attorney told the court at the time. |
Her mother had claimed she had been suffering from a host of illnesses, including leukemia as a young child, and later muscular dystrophy. | |
“I really, genuinely believed that she had some issues,” Mr Blanchard said. | |
“Dee Dee was really good at convincing me that there was a problem. I never, ever can fathom that she was really in the hospitals, and the doctors wouldn’t have caught on to something at some point over the years.” | |
The unimaginable story has now become the subject of a new HBO documentary, “Mommy Dead and Dearest.” | The unimaginable story has now become the subject of a new HBO documentary, “Mommy Dead and Dearest.” |
The film explores the relationship between mother and daughter and Ms Blanchard’s motivation for making her daughter pretend she was disabled. | The film explores the relationship between mother and daughter and Ms Blanchard’s motivation for making her daughter pretend she was disabled. |
Munchausen by proxy syndrome has been offered as an explanation for Ms Blanchard’s behaviour, a psychological condition in which a person acts as if an individual in their care has a physical or mental illness despite them being in fine health. | Munchausen by proxy syndrome has been offered as an explanation for Ms Blanchard’s behaviour, a psychological condition in which a person acts as if an individual in their care has a physical or mental illness despite them being in fine health. |
However others claim Ms Blanchard imprisoned her daughter in order to collect thousands of dollars in benefits payouts and donations from wellwishers. | However others claim Ms Blanchard imprisoned her daughter in order to collect thousands of dollars in benefits payouts and donations from wellwishers. |
The documentary will air on 15 May on HBO. | The documentary will air on 15 May on HBO. |
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