(NewsNation) — Gypsy Rose Blanchard said on a podcast it is “heartbreaking” for her to “think about what could have been” when it comes to her late mom.
Blanchard, who is pregnant with her first child, said on “The Viall Files w/ Nick Viall” that it makes her sad to think about the fact that her mom, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, will not have a relationship with her granddaughter.
The now 33-year-old pleaded guilty in 2016 to the second-degree murder of her mother after what she and her attorneys say was years of isolation and abuse. Nicholas Godejohn, Blanchard’s former boyfriend, is serving life in prison for stabbing Dee Dee Blanchard to death in 2015.
Experts say Blanchard may have been a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, as her mother forced her to use a wheelchair and undergo unnecessary medical procedures, according to her attorneys.
Though Blanchard was sentenced to 10 years in prison, she was released early in December 2023. The case made national headlines and was the subject of documentaries and a limited series drama on Hulu.
After divorcing her husband, who she married while still in prison, Blanchard announced she was having a baby girl with her boyfriend, Ken Urker.
“Everybody asked the question, you know, ‘What are you gonna tell your daughter whenever grandma isn’t around?'” Blanchard said on “The Viall Files.” “My response to them is that (my stepmom) Kristy has become more of a mother to me than my own mother was.”
Despite what she had endured, Blanchard said she is going to do the best she can as a parent and make educated choices.
“I think that’s so unfair to put that on someone, because I’m a person (and) I’m taking the steps to make sure that I’m mentally stable enough to be a parent and heal myself,” she said on “The Viall Files.”
NewsNation digital producer Tyler Wornell contributed to this report.