Gypsy Rose Blanchard has welcomed her first child, a girl, with boyfriend Ken Urker.
Urker announced the birth on Instagram with a heartfelt photo of himself next to Blanchard and their new daughter. “Welcome 2025 with the greatest gift of all,” read the caption.
The image shows Urker next to Blanchard, who served eight years in prison for her role in the 2015 murder of her allegedly abusive mother.
The author and reality TV star, 33, announced she was pregnant on July 9 in a YouTube video titled “I’m Pregnant, My Journey So Far.” At the same time, she shared images of a photo shoot with Urker on her Instagram page.
“This was not planned at all. This was completely unexpected, but we are both very excited to embark on this new journey of parenthood,” Blanchard said in her video, which she also recorded on TikTok.
Blanchard, who was released from prison in December 2023, also expressed concerns about her ability to cope with motherhood.
“I know there will be people who feel like I’m not ready to be a mother,” she said. Her response? “I don’t know if anyone is really ready to become a mother.”
“I just want to be a good mother to my child. “I want to be everything my mother wasn’t,” she said.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard on May 1, 2024 in Los Angeles.
On August 10, Blanchard revealed the gender of her baby in a short video. “The moment you’ve all been waiting for… It’s a girl!” Blanchard wrote in the caption. “Ken and I are over the moon and are so excited to start our family.”
Later that same month, the “Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up” star showed off her growing baby bump in an Instagram photo in which she wore a white crop top with green shorts.
Blanchard is believed to have fallen victim to Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental disorder in which a caregiver – in her case, her own mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard – makes someone sick or gives the illusion that he/she is sick is. to get attention.
While testifying about her role in her mother’s murder, Blanchard described how her mother sought medical attention for her throughout her life and had her treated for medical conditions she did not actually have, including leukemia and muscular dystrophy.
Blanchard also described how her mother let her use a wheelchair and an oxygen tank, even though she needed neither, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
She also revealed during a television interview with Dr. Phil McGraw in 2017 that her mother shaved her head to make her appear bald and forced her to eat through a feeding tube.
While on the stand, Blanchard admitted that she arranged for then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to kill her mother, according to Ozarks First. Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and is now serving a life sentence, according to The Springfield News-Leader.
While in prison, Blanchard met Urker after writing her a “letter of support” in 2017. She told ‘E! News” in 2019. Urker proposed to her while she was still in prison in 2018. The two broke up in 2019.
In 2022, Blanchard married another man, Ryan Anderson, in a prison wedding ceremony. Blanchard and Anderson split in 2024.
Blanchard confirmed to People in May that she and Urker had resumed their romance.
“I’m in love,” she told the publication at the time. “(Urker) was a support when I was going through emotional hardships. But then I let myself open up to the feelings I’ve always had for him. For the first time in my life I am doing something that makes me happy – I am prioritizing myself.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
