When Gypsy was eight years old, Dee Dee described her as suffering from leukemia and muscular dystrophy and said she required a wheelchair and feeding tube. Gypsy Rose, who was born in 1991, was a baby when Dee Dee claimed her daughter had sleep apnea. Dee Dee began pretending that Gypsy had different illnesses when Gypsy was a baby Watch the fictionalized mini-series The Act about Dee Dee and Gypsy or the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest. The truth about Gypsy and her mother only came out after Gypsy arranged for an online boyfriend to murder Dee Dee in 2015. Experts believe Dee Dee's behavior stemmed from the mental disorder Munchausen syndrome by proxy because Dee Dee wanted to be a caretaker, she feigned and induced illness in her daughter. However, Gypsy wasn't actually unwell - her mother had been lying about her symptoms. Gypsy Rose Blanchard grew up with her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, making claims about her health that resulted in a series of dire diagnoses and medical interventions.