As the investigation continued, detectives began to uncover a horrific tale of extreme child abuse.
But one thing is clear: Thetrue story of Gypsy Rose Blanchardis stranger thanThe Actcould ever be.
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Was Gypsy Rose Blanchard actually sick?
Credit:Brownie Harris/Hulu; Courtesy of the Blanchard Family
In fact, Gypsy is of normal intelligence and can walk.
Instead, Dee Dee used manipulation and induced symptoms to convince doctors and everyone else that Gypsy was sick.
Courtesy of the Blanchard Family
Was Gypsy Rose really as childlike as she appears inThe Act?
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Yes.At the time of her arrest, Gypsy was 23 years old.
But she believed she was 19 because Dee Dee lied about her real age.
This helped maintain the illusion that Gypsy was younger than she really was, both mentally and physically.
Courtesy of the Blanchard Family
She still has a high voice, but a much more natural one.
Did anyone give a shot to intervene on Gypsy Roses behalf?
Yes,although the circumstances were different than what we see onThe Act.
Courtesy of the Blanchard Family
In real life, however, CPS was not involved.
(Police conducted a wellness check on Gypsy at one point, but that was a separate incident.)
No doctor spoke with Gypsy directly about her predicament, as Dr. Chandra does onThe Act.
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In real life, neurologist Bernardo Flasterstein did document his concerns about the case.
(We see the handwritten note, underlined multiple times, in the documentaryMommy Dead and Dearest.)
Dr. Flasterstein continued investigating, to the point wherehe suggested the possibilityof Munchausen by proxy.
He did not formally report Dee Dee to authorities, but simply recorded his suspicions in his physicians notes.
Was Gypsy and Nicks relationship like it is on the show?
Sort of.The Actsticks to the facts regarding the circumstances of Nick and Gypsys relationship.
They staged an accidental encounter at a movie theater, where Gypsy saw the live-actionCinderellawith her mom.
However, the plot backfired since Dee Dee disliked Nick from the jump.
Murder, they decided, was Plan B.
According to the documentary, the actual movie date occurred almost exactly as it does on the show.
However, the Blanchard family disputes the shows depiction of Nick as a well-meaning kid living with learning disabilities.
Gypsy says she offered to let him assault her instead.
Nick was convicted of first-degree murder, while Gypsy pled guilty to second-degree murder.
Did Dee Dee Blanchard really serve time for writing bad checks?
However, Dee Deewascaught attempting to smuggle items out of a Hobby Lobby in Gypsys wheelchair in 2012.
In fact, there are no publicly available records of Dee Dee ever getting arrested.
They also allege that Dee Dee deliberately starved her mother to death another detail thats alluded to inThe Act.
