Gypsy-Rose Blanchardwill never forget her first birthday after leaving prison.
During an appearance on the Wednesday, Oct. 16 edition of The Viall Files podcast, Blanchard — who was released from prison on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, after serving eight years for her role in her mother Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard's murder — opened up about what it was like celebrating her first birthday as a free woman.
The expectant mother discussed what it was like turning 33 on Saturday, July 27, after host Nick Viall asked her what her favorite holiday to celebrate since getting out of prison has been.
"My birthday, actually," she replied. "I know it's not a holiday but in the past birthdays for me have been complicated, and in prison the last eight and a half years, my birthdays have been nothing more than my roommates making me a paper card," she emotionally explained.
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"So my family, my dad Rod Blanchard, my stepmom Kristy Blanchard, you know, they all had us a little lunch in for my birthday, and then Ken Urker had taken me to the Ritz Carlton for a fancy dinner," continued Blanchard.
After explaining that she only ordered french fries and a Caesar salad at their dinner, she laughed and said that Urker made the entire day "so sweet."
"He made me a cake as well. He burned the first one, and so he had to remake it. There was so much love that went into that cake. I thought it was so sweet," she said.
Blanchard, who was a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy (a form of child abuse that involves a guardian exaggerating or inducing illness to gain sympathy), said that celebrating birthdays in prison, however, allowed her to learn her actual age.
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"Once I was told my real age, I was able to start celebrating and getting older," she said.
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