Gypsy Rose Blanchard isn't a celebrity, so why are we treating her like one?
The reporting of her pregnancy is unhinged
This afternoon, I opened my Instagram app for a procrastination break, only to be served a post from The Hollywood Reporter, informing me that Gypsy Rose Blanchard is pregnant with her first child.
For those not familiar, Gypsy, is ‘famous’ for being a victim of Munchausen by proxy. This is a form of child abuse where parents, in Gypsy’s case, her mother, pretend their child is sick.
For Gypsy, this meant being confined to a wheelchair (despite the fact she could walk), being fed through a feeding tube (into her 20s) and having her head shaved (to make it seem like she was undergoing chemotherapy).
It’s something that most of us can never even begin to understand and to some extent, could therefore sympathise with Gypsy, when she was convicted for the murder of her mother.
However, the details, which were also portrayed in a 2019 TV series, show that, like most things in life, nothing is ever black and white.
For a start, Gypsy and her boyfriend planned in advance to kill her mother and despite not participating in the act, Gypsy provided Nicholas Godejohn with gloves, a knife and duct tape, which he used to stab her mother 17 times.
Afterwards, he and Gypsy had sex in the house. A detail that adds that extra layer of, something isn’t quite right here.
After serving eight years in prison for second degree murder, Gypsy was released from prison and ever since, has been treated like the latest viral reality TV star.
She has her own YouTube series on Lifetime: Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup and everything from her divorce to her hair colour change and nose job, have made headlines.
Just last week on The Kardashians, Kim excitedly name dropped that she was messaging Gypsy to discuss prison reform in person and you know, that meeting was filmed for the show.
This isn’t a real housewife, this is a woman who surely has a lot of psychological trauma from her abusive childhood and who also was complicit in the violent killing of her mother.
In the nicest possible way, giving such a vulnerable adult this celebrity treatment, makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable.
Have we reached such a true crime peak that these people are the new celebrities? What next, Lucy Letby on the next series of Strictly?
Obviously, Gypsy’s case is complex, which is even more reason not to report on her personal life.
Why is her pregnancy in the public interest anyway and why are entertainment publications covering it as if they’re all in a bidding war for the baby shower rights.
People magazine alone have dedicated three separate Instagram posts to the announcement. Surely that’s bordering on Royal Family coverage?
Clearly she’s getting clicks, but do we value those over ethics now?
Maybe don’t answer that…
What has the world become?! Like you've said, what next... it has always been select criminals that have celebrity-status though. Look at Bronson just as one example... insane!!