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Debunking ‘The Act’ — Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s Family Tells the True Story of Episode 1

May 7, 2019 5:41 pm·

By Chelsea Duff

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When you’re watching something that’s “based on a true story,” well, you probably think you’re getting the true story. But Gypsy Rose Blanchard‘s family says that isn’t the case with The Act, the Hulu show written by Michelle Dean, who first interviewed the Blanchards for her BuzzFeed article. Gypsy’s step-mom, Kristy Blanchard, has expressed how upset she is about the show before. Fancy Macelli, a friend of the family and the only official owner of Gypsy’s life story, M.J. Pack, a journalist who covered the case, and Aleah Woodmansee, a friend and neighbor and the inspiration for Lacey, have all also expressed their disappointment. They told In Touch exactly what they thought about the show, and now they’re breaking down everything that they think episode 1 got wrong. Check out the gallery below to see where The Act differs from the true story of what happened to Gypsy.

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Mel Breaks In To Gypsy And Dee Dee's House

The Break In

Before we ever know any of the characters, we know that something is wrong. The episode starts with a woman we later learn is named Mel breaking into the house to investigate — and this really did happen in real life. Only, according to Fancy, the Mel character is an amalgamation of actual neighbors. In reality, it was a couple, Kim and David Blanchard, who came to see if anything was all right. But, like Mel, David really did break in. “It was very, very cold and he saw all six of Gypsy’s wheelchairs,” Fancy said — and of course Gypsy wasn’t in any of them. “He [also] didn’t see Dee Dee,” she continued. “It was dark, and he didn’t turn on lights.” Aleah and her mother were there when Dee Dee’s body was discovered, but that story shook out very differently.

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Gypsy and Dee Dee Do TV Interview

Meeting Gypsy and Dee Dee

The show introduces us to Gypsy and Dee Dee through a TV interview they’re doing, and it almost exactly mirrors ones that their real-life counterparts participated in. Though the original footage is almost impossible to track down, you can see clips of it in news coverage that came after Gypsy’s arrest, like this story from a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, station. The footage starts at 44 seconds in, and the glass house story comes straight from an anecdote the real life Gypsy shares.

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Gypsy and Dee Dee on Camera

That Portrait

Of course, the painting of Gypsy as a Disney princess is also real. Though the one in the show is a prop, you can see the artwork behind the mother and daughter in the real news clip just as you can in the show.

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Dee Dee Squeezing Gypsy's Hand

Holding Hands

The interview also nails something else that Dee Dee often did, which was touch Gypsy in some way while they were being watched. “If you look at any footage of Dee Dee and Gypsy in public, she always has some sort of hold on Gypsy,” Fancy said. “She would squeeze her if she said something wrong. She would coach her before going on, and then she would squeeze if she wanted her to say something specific — or squeeze if she didn’t want Gypsy to say something. This was in public, doctors’ offices, with neighbors, etc.”

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Dee Dee Shaves Gypsy's Head

Shaving Gypsy’s Head

Though the show doesn’t explain exactly why Dee Dee is shaving Gypsy’s head, it’s easy to imagine that it’s related one of her many imaginary illnesses. There is an explanation, though. “She told Gypsy it was because her hair would fall out anyway and it would be patchy and uneven and would look awful,” Fancy said. “So [she said] it was best to keep it nice and neat.”

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Dee Dee and Gypsy's Home in Missouri

Moving Around

During that same scene, Dee Dee and her daughter talk about how the teen is afraid to move again — and that was definitely reflecting of reality. According to Fancy, the two had been all over the place. They’d lived in government housing in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, stayed with friends all over the state, and made their way through New Orleans, Cut Off and Slidell before making their way to Springfield, Missouri. They event spent some time in the Super Dome after Hurricane Katrina.

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Dee Dee's Medicine Cabinet

Dee Dee’s Medicine Cabinet

Fancy says that the real thing was just as extensive as it’s seen in the show, if not more. “The cabinet was the only organized place in the whole house,” she claimed. “It was meticulous. Obsessively meticulous.” The main difference? It was kept “padlocked” shut so that nobody but Dee Dee — “including Gypsy” — could get into it.

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Dee Dee Self-Medicating

Self-Medicating

The medicines weren’t all for Gypsy. As we see in the show, Dee Dee was self-medicating in real life, though the writer says it wasn’t to the extent we see on screen. Though Dee Dee likely had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, not Munchausen Syndrome, her background in the medical field gave her the knowledge she needed to get access to medications.

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Dee Dee's Sleepy Baby Pills for Gypsy

Sleepy Baby Pills

Fancy confirms that the “sleepy baby” pills were also real — and really labeled that way in Dee Dee’s medicine cabinet. “[It’s the] weirdest s–t ever,” Fancy acknowledges. “Dee Dee was smart enough to … give [Gypsy] specific medications that created different kinds of symptoms that doctors wouldn’t have detected.”

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Dee Dee and Gypsy Stealing at the Mall

Shoplifting at the Mall

Stealing was a real part of Gypsy and Dee Dee’s life, though it was a habit the mom had, not the daughter. “That was something Dee Dee did with her [own] mother, [Emma Pitre], long before Gypsy was even born,” Fancy explained. “When Gypsy was placed in a wheelchair, [Dee Dee] would often use it to steal, but Gypsy wasn’t involved knowingly. In fact, Dee Dee and Emma had been kicked out of several stores for shoplifting. Emma was picked up for it a few times to our understanding.”

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Gypsy Drinks Pizza Milkshake

The Pizza Milkshake

If you were horrified by that pizza milkshake that Dee Dee made for Gypsy, you’re not alone. Luckily, it can remain the stuff of nightmares rather than reality. Fancy called it “just about the grossest thing I’ve ever seen” and insisted that it “never happened.” She explained that Gypsy did occasionally eat food at home, although rarely, “most of her intake was through the feeding tube.” And because Gypsy couldn’t actually taste anything that came through the feeding tube, there never came a point where anyone was blending up two slices of pizza with Pediasure.

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Gypsy Blanchard Sugar Allergy

Gypsy’s Sugar Allergy

Of course, plenty of aspects of the show were dramatized and not taken from real life. Gypsy’s sugar allergy is one example of a total fabrication. “She was not allergic to sugar, nor was it faked,” Fancy said. “Michelle explains it as being a symbol of all the medical things that were so ludicrous, but in doing that it truly minimized the real medical history.”

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Gypsy Blanchard's Eye Surgery

Gypsy’s Eye Surgery

Speaking of the “real medical history,” the show also mentions an eye operation that the family is fundraising before. While we never see it happen on screen — leaving fans to wonder if Dee Dee was just attempting to fleece her neighbors for money — an eye surgery really was one of the unnecessary medical procedures she put her daughter through. In fact, says Fancy, “There were several.” The surgery mentioned “was [for] poor vision, and at one point it was even questioned [by the doctors involved].” However, Dee Dee managed to make it happen anyway. “The very next document we have in the file details the surgery being performed [despite that]. It’s absolutely mind-boggling.”

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Dee Dee Raising Money at Party

Raising Money at the Party

The party was real, too. Well, not necessarily this specific one, but Fancy says Dee Dee was frequently hosting something or other as a fundraiser for Gypsy’s medical care. “She would rent a blow-up big screen and show movies for the neighborhood kids. She charged admission and had snacks and concessions for sale. … She defrauded the neighborhood, taking their money and asking for donations.” However, Gypsy wasn’t allowed to hang out with her neighbors unsupervised as she’s seen doing in the show. “Often Gypsy was excluded,” Fancy continued. “[Dee Dee] would claim Gypsy was sick or not feeling well. It was just one more way Dee Dee controlled Gypsy’s interactions.”

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Dee Dee Talking to Mel

Winning Over Mel

Though Mel comes around, none of the family’s real life neighbors in Missouri needed to be convinced that Dee Dee was a good person. “She was such a great master manipulator. She convinced everyone she was amazing,” Fancy said. Of course, that wasn’t true everywhere she lived. “I think this is another reason she escaped Louisiana, because people there knew about her and all the things she had lied about and manipulated as a teen and young woman. They would have figured it out eventually. … People [in Louisiana] were questioning things. They just didn’t really know what to think, but they were suspicious, and I think she had run her course there.”

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Dee Dee Rushes Gypsy to the Hospital

Rushing to the Hospital

As far as Fancy remembers, there was never a specific emergency that happened during a party or around their neighbors. But Dee Dee did frequently share stories of past emergencies. According to the By Proxy writer, on at least one occasion, Dee Dee even showed friends and neighbors a picture of Gypsy, her father, Rod, and her half-brother, Dylan. “She showed it to people, telling them she escaped Rod, who was abusive.” She also claimed that Dylan, Rod’s son with Kristy, was her son who “died of cancer.”

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Gypsy Overhears Doctor Talking to Dee Dee

Overhearing the Doctor

According to Fancy, there was “never” a moment that Gypsy would’ve overheard one of her doctors questioning or invalidating one of her mother’s medical concerns. In fact, the mom went to great lengths to hide things from her daughter. “In fact, she often spoke for Gypsy,” she clarified. “[In] one incident, the doctor put in his notes that Dee Dee covered Gypsy’s ears and said, ‘She is very slow, and I don’t want her to hear me say that. It upsets her.'”

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Gypsy Sneaks Around to Eat Junk Food

Sneaking Around at Night

Dee Dee never actually faked a sugar allergy for Gypsy, and Gypsy never actually snuck around to eat sweets late at night. She did sneak around to do other things — like talk to her friends and men online — but that wasn’t until years after they initially moved to Missouri. “She didn’t do those things until much later, when she began learning that her mom wasn’t truthful about her age,” shared the By Proxy writer. “She wanted to get some sort of human contact outside of the home.”