Amanda Knox has said that Gypsy Rose Blanchard is still not free and that her mother, who was stabbed to death by Blanchard’s boyfriend, “has come to terms” with the years of abuse she inflicted on her daughter.
Knox, who was wrongly convicted of killing his roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy in 2007, made the remarks in an article he wrote for The Free Press on Saturday in which he revealed his own struggles in trying to return to a normal life after being released from prison on 2011 and was fully released.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 32, was released from prison late last month after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 2016, when she was 24, for her role in plotting to kill her brutal mother, Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, in their Missouri home on in 2015 with the help of her ex-boyfriend at the time.
The case of Gypsy Rose, and a documentary about her story, propelled her into the limelight, and she has amassed millions of followers online, seemingly overnight.
And while she was released on December 28, Knox believes that Gypsy Rose’s public persona, and the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death, may be difficult to overcome.
“He may not yet realize that he has entered a new kind of prison: the prison of public opinion,” Knox wrote. “When I look at Gypsy, even though she’s guilty and I’m innocent, I see her making mistakes in freedom the same way I did.”
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 32, was released from prison late last month after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 2016. Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock
“It took me over a decade to finally feel like I was in control of my life, no longer trapped by my own story. I have learned that I am more than the worst thing that has ever happened to me, but if there is value in sharing my story with others, I deserve to do so,” Knox wrote. “Same with Gypsy. He was more than the horrific abuse he suffered, he was more than a conspirator to murder. And now that he’s admitted what he did and served his time, he doesn’t owe anyone anything.”
Experts believe Dee Dee Blanchard suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological illness in which she projects a false illness onto her daughter in an attempt to receive attention or material goods out of sympathy for the victim.
Amanda Knox says that Gypsy Rose Blanchard is not yet free. Amanda Knox/Instagram
Dee Dee convinces Gypsy that she has various illnesses, including leukemia, and is years younger than her actual age. He also forced his daughter into a wheelchair, made her take unnecessary medication, shaved her hair, removed her teeth and fed her through a tube in her stomach.
Blanchard and her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Paul Godejohn, were arrested in connection with Dee Dee’s fatal stabbing in 2015. The following year, Blanchard was sentenced to a decade in prison, while Godejohn was sentenced to life.
“If you know anything about the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case…you know that 48-year-old Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard is coming,” Knox wrote.
“Gypsy may not realize that many people admire her not because she admits that what she did was wrong or even because she survived and escaped terrible abuse, but because, deep down, they felt that Dee Dee deserved to be killed.”
Dee Dee convinces Gypsy that she has various illnesses, including leukemia, and is years younger than her actual age. Courtesy of HBO
Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of the murder and sexual assault of her former roommate, Kercher. He was released in 2011 after spending four years in custody. In 2008, Rudy Hermann Guede, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for Kercher’s death and was released in 2021.
“When I got out of prison, it was a world that had decided who I was, what I did, and what I deserved,” Knox wrote. “I’ve been free for over twelve years, and I’m still fighting to get my name back. Now, Gypsy has to do the same.”
Knox shared how the public and media painted a certain picture of her character as a “femme fatale” while certain reporters asked her unpleasant and invasive questions, even though she was innocent of the charges in the case.
“Gypsy stories are perfect fodder for our twisted media environment that caters almost pornographically to our voyeuristic and judgmental tendencies, especially when women are victims or perpetrators of violence. I know from experience,” Knox wrote.
Knox was released in 2011 after spending four years in custody. Amanda Knox/Instagram
Knox said that she had to overcome the image of “the girl accused of murder” and had to discuss her part of the case in public, but at the same time chose to keep most of her private life private. He said that Gypsy Rose would face the same dilemma.
“It will take time for Gypsy to discover who she is on the other side of the tragedy that turned her into a household name,” Knox wrote.
“There is freedom to be found in keeping that growth and healing personal.”
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
