Created by: Nick Antosca
Starring: Joey King, Patricia Arquette, and Calum Worthy
Rate: 2/5
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has been in the news from the start of 2024 for both pop culture reasons and not. The 24-year-old was released early from prison on Dec. 28, 2023 and instantly started trending on social media. Blanchard has been incarcerated since July 2016 after a plea deal for the murder of her mother Deedee. Gypsy was a victim of medical abuse cast upon her by her mother who suffered from a factitious mental illness called Munchausen syndrome by Proxy. Munchausen syndrome by Proxy is when the caretaker of a child, most often a mother, either makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick.
“The Act ” follows Gypsy and Deedee’s life after they move to Springfield, Missouri in 2008. The audience is introduced to the mother-daughter duo’s dynamic and Gypsy’s CVS-receipt-long list of medical illnesses and disorders. Episode after episode, the audience sees how Deedee is overprotective and abusive of Gypsy until she begins to discover the secrets and the lies her mother told her. As she begins to mature and dive into the deep web, Gypsy begins a relationship with Nick Godejohn, who suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. In 2015, after Gypsy has had enough, she asked Godejohn to murder her mother so she can experience freedom. Gypsy was sentenced to 10 years in prison for second-degree murder, and Godejohn is currently serving life for first-degree murder.
“The Act” was nominated for a slew of accolades, but only won for its actors. Patricia Arquette won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie in 2019, and a Golden Globe in 2020 for Best Supporting Actress- Series, Limited Series or Television Film.
However, audiences pose the question: How accurate is “The Act”? The series is for the most part an accurate depiction of Deedee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard. But as goes with many “based on a true story” films and TV series, parts of the series have been altered to push the story forward and so it can flow better. Some of the parts of the series that were fiction include Deedee and Dean’s phone relationship, Nick’s “caring” personality, Nick’s phone call confrontation with Deedee, and Deedee’s 6-month incarceration.
Gypsy Rose has commented on the series, “I am unable to watch ‘The Act’. However, I feel it is very unfair and unprofessional that producers and co-producer Michelle Dean has used my actual name and story without my consent, and the life rights to do so. Therefore, there will be legal action taken against the show’s creators. I want to share my story and bring awareness about Munchausen by proxy, in the hopes that I can encourage those who might be experiencing abuse to speak up because someone WILL listen. No child should ever be abused, especially by their parent.”
Joey King stated that she could not get in contact with Gypsy, but drew on her role from speaking with Michelle Dean, a producer of “The Act” who also had been in contact with Gypsy after writing a Buzzfeed article about her.
With true crime series on the rise in recent years the laws surrounding the production of these stories comes into question, through a matter of ethics, morality, and monetary value. Since court documents are public records, big entertainment companies reserve the right to create these cases for the public’s entertainment without notifying or consulting the victims or the next of kin. This being the case for Gypsy Rose, as Hulu executives decided to create “The Act” without her consent.
Courts often rule against victims and their families who take these cases to trial. In the 2018 case of Olivia de Havilland against FX network and producer Ryan Murphy for the series “Feud: Bette and Joan,” the California court appealed that the right of publicity suit protected FX and Murphy through their First Amendment right, under the premise that “she [does not have] the legal right to control, dictate, approve, disapprove, or veto the creator’s portrayal of actual people.”
This premise is not likely to change no matter how popular true crime gets. The entertainment industry has profited off of others tragedies and will continue to do so. Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s case with “The Act” is bringing light to the truth behind the rights of privacy of victims of true crime.
