Munchausen-by-proxy survivor Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who was convicted of the second-degree murder of her mother in 2015, has announced her first pregnancy with boyfriend Ken Urker.
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The 32-year-old, who was released from a Missouri correctional centre in December 2023, announced she was 11 weeks pregnant on July 9 in an emotional video posted to YouTube.
"Ken and I are expecting our very first child come January of 2025," she said.
"This was not planned at all, it was completely unexpected, but we're both very excited to take on this new journey of parenthood."
Reunited with her ex-fiance
Ms Blanchard met her boyfriend through a prison pen pal program and the couple were engaged in 2018. However their relationship ended in 2019.
She went on to marry Louisiana teacher Ryan Anderson in July 2022 in a prison ceremony but the pair filed for divorce on March 28, 2024.
She announced that she had rekindled her romance with Mr Urker on April 30.
"I just want to be a good mother for my child, I want to be everything my mother wasn't," she said in the July 9 video.
Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard
Ms Blanchard has been the subject of public interest since the murder of her mother Clauddine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard.
Ms Blanchard and her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn were convicted of planning and carrying out the 2015 murder.
Investigators found that Ms Blanchard was being held hostage by her mother, who was suffering from the psychological disorder Munchausen-by-proxy where a caregiver fabricates or causes sickness in their child.
She was forced to use a wheelchair, feeding tube and take unnecessary medication throughout her childhood and teen years.
'Ready' to be a mother
"I know that there are going to be people that feel like I'm not ready to be a mother and I just, I don't know if anyone's really ready to become a mother," Ms Blanchard said in her pregnancy announcement.
"I don't know anybody that said, 'OK, I'm ready. I'm doing this'," she said.
"I think, in my experience, everybody that I've ever talked to, they're like, it just happened.
"I found my freedom in a way that I never expected and I'm OK with that.
"Everything that has ever happened to me in my life suddenly doesn't matter because it all led me to be who I am today and it all led me to this moment right here, right now and that's a blessing to say that I made it.
"All of the things that I wanted in a mother, I want to give to this baby."
Anna Houlahan
Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
