While at the hospital, Gypsy Rose had seen a birth certificate with her real birth year-though her mother insisted it was misprinted. After years of having her head shaved and enduring medical abuse at the hand of her mother, Gypsy Rose started to consider that she didn't suffer from the list of ailments her mother told her she had. However, Dee Dee suffered from Munchausen by proxy. Throughout the course of Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee's lives, the two had been recipients of multiple charitable organizations, including Habitat for Humanity and the Make-a-Wish Foundation.Īccording to her mother, Gypsy Rose suffered from leukemia, asthma, sleep apnea, muscular dystrophy, and a series of other conditions. After Katrina, Dee Dee moved to Gypsy Rose to Springfield, Missouri.

What story is this based on? I feel like I've heard of it before.īefore the story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard made national headlines, the two seemed to be a charismatic mother and daughter whose story as Hurricane Katrina survivors was only compounded by the laundry list of medical issues Dee Dee claimed her daughter had.

Before sitting down and diving into The Act, here's all the information you need about the people involved, the mental illness that fueled the Blanchard family's complicated story, and the results that shocked physicians and criminal investigators alike. If you missed the series when it launched earlier this year, don't worry. The limited series was nominated for two Emmy awards-best actress for Joey King's portrayal of Gypsy Rose, and Patricia Arquette for her critically acclaimed portrayal of Dee Dee Blanchard. Their narrative unraveled over the course of the next seven years, and the one-time human interest story turned into a full-blown murder investigation.

The two quickly became an enigma-a chronically ill daughter with a mother doing her best to make ends meet. The series follows the story of Dee Dee Blanchard and her daughter Gypsy Rose after they moved from Louisiana to Missouri in 2007. While the true crime genre is having its most active year in quite a while, Hulu's Emmy-nominated limited series The Act, may be one of the most complex and haunting stories the genre has seen in a while.

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