11 - The Act: Gypsy Rose Blanchard and the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard

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This week we dive into The Act, Hulu’s dramatization of the harrowing true story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Though many of us would fake sick for the occasional day off, this takes it to the next level. It’s a case of Munchausen’s by proxy, blurred lines between victim and perpetrator, and the disturbing question of how far someone will go for sympathy and control.

Spoiler & Trigger Warning

• Physical, emotional, and medical child abuse
• References to sex, BDSM, and needles
• Disturbing dental procedures and feeding tubes
• On-screen gore, blended pizza, and implied animal harm (guinea pigs do survive)
• Murder
• We also spoil plot details inThe Act, and discuss Mommy Dead and Dearest

Episode Synopsis

The Act dramatizes the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, raised by her mother Dee Dee to believe she was terminally ill. Dee Dee presented herself as a martyr-mother, fooling neighbours, charities, and doctors alike. In reality, Gypsy was healthy—isolated, infantilised, and subjected to years of unnecessary medical procedures.

We'll unpack how the show portrays Dee Dee as both abuser and, perhaps too sympathetic, and why that left us uneasy. We discuss Patricia Arquette’s chilling performance, the liberties taken with the truth (from invented guinea pigs to altered jail sentences), and Gypsy’s portrayal as both manipulated child and complicit conspirator. This episode unpacks the blurred line between self-defence and premeditated murder, and the ethical questions raised by dramatizing true crime stories without consent, the disturbing ways abuse warps morality, and the deeper horrors—exploitation, celebrity culture, systemic medical failures, and the trauma of growing up under a narcissistic parent.

Palate Cleanser:

Head to TikTok for the Hamilton trend where creators don powdered wigs, leap out of windows, and lip-sync to “come back to sleep, I have an early meeting out of town.” It’s the collective silliness and joy we all need.
Recommendations:

Podcasts

• Wine and Crime — Episode 6 covers Munchausen’s, a dark but entertaining gateway into the show.
• Nobody Should Believe Me (by Andrea Dunlop) — each season covers a different case of Munchausen’s by proxy/medical child abuse.
• My Favorite Murder (Episode 47, “Live at the Bellhouse”) — the Blanchard case meets true crime comedy with guest appearances from LPOTL.
• The Viall Files — January 2024 episode features Gypsy Rose and her (now ex-) husband reflecting just weeks after her prison release.

Documentaries & TV

• Mommy Dead and Dearest — sanctioned by Gypsy, offering a more factual perspective.
• Take Care of Maya — Munchausen’s or systemic medical failure?
• The Curious Case of Natalia Grace — blurred lines between victimhood and manipulation.
• Run — horror film starring Sarah Paulson as a mother and her wheelchair-bound daughter.
• Sharp Objects (book and show) — another toxic mother-daughter dynamic.
• Misery — caretaker turned captor.

For fans of the actors

• The Conjuring, Severance, Stigmata, American Vandal, Silence of the Lambs, Never Have I Ever, Kids, Zodiac, American Psycho and more!

Homework Assignment

Our next episode is The Sixth Sense. Longer-term: read Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow (because the cover-up is the crime, or at least part of it).

Special thanks to Nancy Azano for our cover art (Instagram: @nancyazano) and Harry Kidd for composing o