Gypsy Rose Blanchard says she has found a way to forgive her mother — and herself. But it has been a long journey from abuse and tabloid coverage of being forced to pretend for years that she was suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy and other serious illnesses. She was paroled last week from a Missouri women’s prison. Her release came 8 1/2 years after she persuaded her boyfriend to kill her abusive mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, in a bid to be free of her. Speaking Tuesday, she says, “I don’t believe that she was evil,” but that she was very sick.
