Cancel OK

Already have an account?

I agree to the terms of the Terms and Conditions
and the Privacy Policy

Debunking ‘The Act’ — Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s Family Tells the True Story of Episode 5

True Crime

Apr 11, 2019 11:01 am·

By Chelsea Duff

Picture

'Octomom' Nadya Suleman Is a Proud Mom of 14: See Her Kids Today!

Is Every Duggar Ridiculously Messy? See the 'Counting On' Kids' Houses

The Little Couple Jen Arnold Kids With Husband Bill William and Zoey

Look How Much the Little Couple's Kids Will and Zoey Have Grown Up

Every Look From the Kardashian-Jenner Family at the 2021 Met Gala

Take a Tour of All the Houses (and Apartments) the Duggars Call Home

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, and so has Fancy Macelli, a friend of the family and the only official owner of Gypsy’s life story. They told In Touch exactly what they thought about episode 4, and now they’re breaking down everything that they think episode 5 got wrong, too. Fancy, who’s handling press for the family, spoke on behalf of both of them. Check out the gallery below to see where The Act differs from the true story of what happened to Gypsy.

Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.

1 of 12

Comment

Dee Dee’s Declining Health

“In this episode, they seem to focus a lot on Dee Dee’s declining health,” said Fancy. “While she was sick and things were not good, she wasn’t in as bad a shape as they are showing her, nor had that decline been rapid. It makes Dee Dee seem like she was losing control because she was so sick.” Fancy, who has interviewed members of both sides of the Blanchard family as well as Dee Dee’s friends, said, “There is nothing we have from any accounts to substantiate that. She had been sick for years but nothing too unmanageable and certainly nothing that would have made her seem so out of control.” According to them, Gypsy was never a caretaker for her mother. “She did everything she could to make Gypsy helpless and [think] that she couldn’t leave her mom because she would not survive,” not because Dee Dee needed a caretaker for her own illnesses.

2 of 12

Comment

Nick’s Incompetency

They also take an issue with Nick’s portrayal. Though they think the stars themselves are all giving amazing performances, and actor Calum Worthy has certainly tried to find the humanity in Nick, the writing just doesn’t sit right with them. “[He] is really portrayed as a totally incompetent idiot,” they said. “He [has Autism spectrum disorder], but he was well within the ability of intelligent thought. Through the text messages we have, we can see he was very much in control [of] and dominate to Gypsy. It’s part of how she didn’t think to question a lot of things he said because, [with] her conditioning with her mom, it seemed normal to her. … Showing Nick being so awkward and incompetent makes it all seem like Gypsy had to convince this kid to do [everything they did].”

3 of 12

Comment

Nick’s First Meeting

That first meeting also didn’t go the way we see in the show. In fact, it went much more smoothly in real life. “He spoke to them in line [about] how he was excited about seeing the movie. He told them he was [from] out of town and looking for fun things to do in the area, and Dee Dee even told him about the Bass Pro Shop in the town and how they had lots of things boys liked to do.” He even sat and chatted with them during the movie. It wasn’t until later that Dee Dee became suspicious. “She wanted to know what they were doing” after she caught them in the lobby together, “and she got really mad when Nick tried to force Gypsy to sit next to him for the rest of the movie.” According to Kristy and Fancy, she even called Gypsy a slut.

4 of 12

Comment

That Bathroom Scene

One thing Fancy and Kristy think the show did get right is that bathroom scene. “I do feel like this was a good depiction of how they felt it was romantic, though anyone else would be grossed out by sex in a bathroom,” Fancy said.

5 of 12

Comment

The Anonymous Phone Call

It never happened, says the family and friend. “If that had happened, I can honestly say I’m not sure we’d even be sitting here talking,” said Fancy. “Dee would have been way too suspicious and locked it all down. She might have really unraveled.” The writer fears that if there really had been a call like this, what happened next would’ve been a lot worse than the scene we saw in the show.

6 of 12

Comment

Restraining Gypsy

Though Dee Dee had physically restrained Gypsy on her bed, it only happened once after she tried to run away. Though Dee Dee did use physical strength and intimidation to control Gypsy, she wasn’t frequently tied up as a punishment. “Gypsy describes [the time her mom restrained her] as one of the scariest moments of her life,” said Fancy. “She was chained for a long time and starved, only eating at her mother’s mercy. She was dragged to that bed and violently tied up according to her.” By toning that moment down and using it more than once, they think it “makes it seem like less of a big deal.” They also object to the fact that Gypsy is seen submitting to the punishing, “being so compliant in climbing up on the bed.” When Gypsy was punished by her mother, she didn’t have that same defiant attitude. Family and friends told Fancy that Dee Dee “would get very angry and Gypsy was visibly scared” whenever she attempted to go against her mother.

7 of 12

Comment

Gypsy Buys a Knife

Just like in episodes 3 and 4, Gypsy is seen sneaking away from her mom to buy contraband. Only this time, instead of a phone or laptop, she purchases a knife. But Fancy and Kristy think Gypsy would never have gotten the chance to be out of her mother’s sight for that long. “She was not ever really far enough from her mom for that to happen. She was shocked in the movie theater her mom let her go to the bathroom alone,” they shared. Instead, she stole the knife from Walmart. “Rolling down an aisle, doing what her mom had shown her to do and grabbing a knife of any kind is much different than making up a story to get away from her mom, then taking the time to buy it, then creating a cover story. That is very different and makes her seem more capable of rational thought and that she again could have easily told someone or gotten away.”

8 of 12

Comment

The Doctor’s Visit

In the episode, we saw Gypsy back at the doctor’s to get her feeding tube replaced. But in real life, she was at the doctor’s several times a week, even spending days on end at the hospital several times a month so that she could undergo check-ups and procedures. “The total lack of focus on the medical side of this is a big deal,” said Fancy. “It is really crucial to making people understand what was really happening and just how controlling her mom was and how she fooled everyone all the time. She fooled literally hundreds of doctors, so to only show this a such a small part makes it seem less severe than it. … It wasn’t just about being in a wheelchair. … Gypsy knew she could walk but she had been told if she walked [for] long periods of time, she’d get sicker. So she didn’t question everything else. She was starved and weakened by medicine, so she couldn’t fight back like they show or exert herself. … It [plays into Dee Dee’s] control physically, but also mentally.”

9 of 12

Nick and Gypsy Have Cyber Sex in The Act

Comment

All the Sex

“They are making it seem like that was more of the driving force than the abuse, isolation, continued medical procedures, and the absolute unwillingness to let Gypsy interact with anyone,” Fancy said about the repeated sex scenes. “It really diminishes the focus of Munchausen syndrome by proxy and makes it about girl meets boy, mom hates boy, boy and girl kill mom.” Instead, it was about Dee Dee’s absolute control over Gypsy’s life — something the family worries was escalating. Fancy said, “It was told to us by people who interacted with them on a trip to Disney around [that] time. Dee Dee told them in front of Gypsy that she was 12. And when Gypsy tried to say something, she grabbed her arm really hard and told them again how mentally delayed Gypsy was and tried to explain it away as just an episode she had due to seizures. … All of that being left out or only slightly touched on makes it seem so much less mental warfare then she went through.”

10 of 12

Comment

Dee Dee’s Declining Mental State

In the show, Fancy thinks “Dee Dee seems almost lost and spiraling out of control,” and that her mental capacity was declining. In actuality, “as Gypsy became more aware of the world around her,” Dee Dee was getting “more powerful and more controlling” so that she could keep Gypsy under her thumb. “She could see Gypsy wanting a different life, and she was not going to have that. In fact, she was doing things to make Gypsy seem younger and younger and forcing more childlike things on her,” like the previously mentioned trip to Disneyland.

11 of 12

Nick Arrives at Dee Dee's House in The Act

Comment

Wonky Timelines

“[It] makes it seem like this Cinderella movie meeting and killing Dee Dee was super close,” said Fancy. “It wasn’t. [The movie] was in March, and the murder was not until June. A lot transpired between that time to get [them] to the murder … including Gypsy trying to tell her mom about wanting to talk to more people and have friends and be normal and her mom, in turn, isolating her more.”

12 of 12

Comment

Too Many Changes

While Fancy and the family can take a step back and recognize how incredible the show is as a piece of entertainment, they simply don’t feel like it’s doing justice for Gypsy’s story. “While it would make for a truly awesome fictional story with all the bells and whistles and the incredible acting, it takes away from the true story and helping bring awareness to something that is very serious,” they said. “Yes, it gets the word out about Gypsy, and we have seen some great support from it for her … but it’s not good attention because it’s so misleading and is not giving a fair depiction of any character.”