The twisted plot and murder of Dee Dee Blancharde is now subject of an upcoming HBO documentary, 'Mommy Dead and Dearest', which airs on May 15. YouTube / HBODocs
Gypsy Rose Blanchard once described the relationship she had with her mother like "a pair of shoes" because they were "never good without the other".
Her mother, Dee Dee, was a single mum and full-time carer for Gypsy, who was confined to a wheelchair and survived off a feeding tube.
When asked about her daughter's diagnosis, Dee Dee would reel off a list as long as her arm, according to Buzzfeed. Her ailments included "chromosomal defects, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, severe asthma, sleep apnoea, eye problems".
Gypsy Rose Blanchard and mum Dee Dee.
The pair did everything together; a friend even described their bond as "perfect". But something was amiss.
In 2005, they lost their house to Hurricane Katrina, and instead of staying they moved to a quiet neighbourhood in Missouri to rebuild their life together.
That was until things took a dark turn in mid-2015 when Gypsy finally snapped.
After 23 years of abuse at the hands of her mother, who forced her to pretend she was sick and wheelchair-bound to attract sympathy and benefits from others, Blanchard helped orchestrate her mother's horrific death.
Blanchard, 26, who is serving 10 years behind bars, sat down with Dr Phil McGraw from jail to reveal why murdering her mother was the only way to stop the abuse.
"My mother told doctors that I was mentally incompetent. [She'd say] 'she's got the mind of a child'," Blanchard told the US television host from Chillicother Correctional Centre in Missouri.
"She told me if I was to contact anybody and tell them, she would take a hammer to my fingers.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, left, was forced in to a wheelchair and had her head shaved so she appeared unwell.
"She had taken handcuffs and a dog leash and tied it together and tied me to the bed. I just don't understand how somebody could do this to their child.
"I trusted her so much she told me she loved me and she was trying to protect me. The only person I needed protection from was her."
In July, 2016, Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of her mother. The plea agreement with prosecutors resulted in a 10-year prison sentence, after being charged with helping her then boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, in an alleged plot to kill her mother.
Blanchard, who started chatting with Godejohn on a Christian dating website, met in person at a movie theatre in 2015.
It was then they allegedly came up with the idea to kill Blanchard's mother.
"We called it Plan B. I was getting desperate," she admitted.
"So after that, he took his bus - Greyhound bus - from Wisconsin to Missouri.
"He stayed at the local hotel. I texted him when my mother went to sleep, I let him in the door. There were gloves, plastic gloves, by the door. I put them there. He came in and he was wearing a hoodie and dark clothing and a scary T-shirt that had evil clowns on it.
Gypsy Rose was forced by her mother to be in a wheelchair and appear unwell her whole life.
"I handed him the knife and he said 'get your ass in the bathroom now'. And I went in the bathroom and closed the door behind me and kind of got down in a kneeling position and put my hands over my ears so I couldn't hear anything. But I did hear stuff.
"I heard her scream for me a couple of times. But at first she sounded like she was startled - 'who's there?' and then I heard her screaming.
"I wanted to go and help her but he had told me that if I come in to the bedroom, 'Viktor might hurt you too'."
Blanchard said Godejohn had multiple personalities that were often violent and aggressive. One personality was a 500-year-old vampire called "Viktor".
The pair were in a relationship for three years, but she was only "in love with the good side of him".
"[Godejohn] said 'Viktor' will lash out at you if you try to stop it [the stabbing]," Blanchard explained.
"So I was scared of that and I was scared of what I would see, and I was so scared, so I just didn't move even though I wanted to.
"She called my name about three or four times wanting help, I didn't move, then it all went quiet."
The relationship between Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother Dee Dee was once described by a friend as "perfect".
Blanchard said she and her mother had argued two days before the murder, because she didn't want to have any more surgery for her fake illnesses.
"It was about my feeding tube. I said 'I no longer need this feeding tube can we please have it removed'," she explained.
"And she said no. I had an upcoming surgery, and I didn't want to have it so I said 'please, tell the doctor I don't need this surgery I've had it 20 times before I don't have to have it again'.
"And she's like 'there's nothing I can do about it'. The doctor wants it. And so I became very numb to plan B.
"I talked to Nick, he had me talk to Viktor who initially was the one who was going to do the murder. And he was like 'ask Viktor, please'. And I said 'Viktor, will you please come kill my mother for me because I can't do it myself'."
Blanchard said that although she believes she should be spending time in confinement, the sentence outweighs her involvement in the crime.
"No matter what murder is not okay," she said.
"But at the same time I don't believe I deserve as many years as I got.
"I do believe that I do deserve to spend some time in prison for that crime but also I understand why it happened and I don't believe that I'm in the right place to get the help that I need."
When asked if she was glad her mother was dead, Blanchard responded "no" but she was "glad to be out of the situation".
"She didn't deserve what happened. If anything she just deserved to be where I am.
"She taught me how to be a good liar. A very good liar without any conscience. And I'm changing that. I'm trying to be a good person now. I don't want to be like my mother, and I'm nothing like her.
Godejohn is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Dee Dee Blanchard and has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to begin next month.
