Mommy Dead and Dearest Page #2

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it looks like a tabloid case.

It looks like, "Here's some people

in some weird outfits,

and they're pretending

to be disabled and they're

scamming everybody.

And then there's this, like,

sort of horrible murder,

and the Facebook status,

'That b*tch is dead.'"

[Freelance Journalist]

Like, all of it is very tabloid.

[The New Yorker, Buzzfeed]

And then, gradually, that story

just sort of fell apart.

Still, it feels to me like it's

developing into something else.

[Lafourche Parish, LA

Gypsy's hometown]

[Gypsy's father

Dee Dee's ex-husband]

I still ask the question,

"How do you kill your own mother?"

I mean, there's got to be a reason.

There's got to be some abuse there.

You don't just...

"I'm gonna kill my mother

because I wanna be with a boyfriend."

Like I told my mom when I called my mom

and talked to her about it.

I said, "Mama, I've been-- you know,

I was mad at you before,

but I've never, ever

in a million years

thought about killing you."

I said, "For me to think

about killing you,

you'd have had to done

some pretty bad stuff to me."

Nobody wants to believe that something

like this can happen.

[Gypsy's lawyer Missouri Public Defender]

I think the initial reaction is--

is that, you know, Gypsy's been lying

to everybody.

But when you look at the backstory,

when you look at how we got here,

this all started long before Gypsy

would've ever had any type

of say in what was happening.

[Gypsy, 3 months old]

Right from birth, three months old.

Dee Dee was telling me

that she had sleep apnea

and she needed a breathing machine

or breathing monitor machine,

which, I mean, I-- to this day,

I don't know if that was real

or not, you know?

It escalated from then.

Problems with her eyes,

her hearing,

her digestive system.

After that, Gypsy couldn't walk anymore.

She had a muscular disorder.

[Gypsy, 10 years old]

And Dee Dee told me

she would need a wheelchair.

You know, I asked her.

I said, "Man, she's got

a lot of issues.

What's going on?"

You know, and, um...

They had done some tests and found out

she had a chromosome disorder

that was causing all of her functions

from developing--

her digestive system

and her muscular system.

Dee Dee told me

she's not going to live

to be, you know, 18 years old.

She may be an old teenager,

that's about it.

You know, I was like, "Really?"

You know, it was shocking,

it was disturbing.

And to see her at 23 years old now,

perfectly healthy--

It pisses me off, you know?

[Gypsy's stepmother]

Kristy:
This picture here...

I don't know if this was the surgery

where she thought her stomach lining

wrapped around her oesophagus.

Rod:
No, she would've had that earlier.

She had that feeding tube

way before then.

You know?

She was 10 here.

Rod:
This was probably close

to the first year or two

when she was in a wheelchair.

Yep.

Breaks my heart...

knowing she got put through all of this

when she didn't need it.

Fourteen years.

To be confined.

The last 14 years in a wheelchair.

I couldn't imagine.

Stanfield:
I've never encountered anything

that is even close to what

Gypsy has gone through.

Her mother appeared to have taken

great steps

to keep Gypsy in a very juvenile role,

making her act several years younger

than her actual age.

It appears that Gypsy was not even aware

of what her actual age was.

Rod:
I called her for her 18th birthday,

and Dee Dee said,

"Don't tell her she's 18, you know?"

I'm like, "What you mean

don't tell her she's 18?

She knows she's 18.

It's her 18th birthday."

"Yeah, but she don't know she's 18.

She's-- you know."

I thought it was weird, you know?

I-- she--

I mean, I always did know that she--

she told me her mental capacity was,

you know, like, five years behind.

When she was, like, 15, she was like,

"Oh, yeah, her learning is coming along,

but she's like, mentally,

at a 9- or 10-year-old."

Kristy:
She looks like

she would be 10 and 11,

and she was probably like, 21, 22.

I wonder what she was thinking.

Hello, everybody! This is Gypsy Rose

reporting from Aurora, Missouri.

I'm about to dive off our porch

[Dee Dee's home movies]

into the pile of snow.

You ready?

That was so grand!

Whoo!

All right!

Yooh!

Yeah!

[A special day]

That's so cool. Let's do it again.

Dean:
It's hard to answer

a lot questions

about who Gypsy is, right?

Because she was somebody else

for such a long time.

Dean:
And now we know her

as almost a completely different person.

- Erin Lee Carr:
I'm Erin, as you remember.

- I remember.

Dean:
I would be curious

if anybody Gypsy has talked to

feels they're getting the full story.

This is actually kind of the first time

I've been honest

besides being honest, you know,

with my attorneys.

Even then, I haven't been completely honest

with them, so...

Carr:
How would you describe your mom?

Um...

Unique.

Um...

I mean, I used to always think

that maybe she was a little overprotective.

So, if I had to say one word about her,

it would be overprotective.

Dee Dee:
How old are you?

[Gypsy, 1 year old]

(Dee Dee's voice offscreen)

You're one.

And where's your cranial?

Very good. And where's your phalanges?

Yes. Very, very good.

I really didn't think

any abuse was going on.

Um... it's like when you're abused,

but you've lived that way

your whole life.

You don't really know

that you're being abused.

You don't know any different.

Looking at the open ocean now.

And it's beautiful!

Gypsy:
I knew that I was different

or my life was different

from other kids'.

But people thought of us, as, you know,

the sweetest mother-daughter family ever.

The best two people in the world.

Carr:
What illnesses did your mom

say that you had?

Um...

Asthma, epilepsy, hearing impaired,

vision impaired, fed with a feeding tube,

paralyzed from the waist down.

Um...

slow, so retardation.

And-- among other things,

I just can't remember them.

[Gypsy Rose's diagnosis]

[List of conditions Dee Dee gave to doctors]

[G.I. reflux, anemia, hyperventilation,

incontinence, lung disease, heart murmur]

[Dee Dee's medical closet]

Gypsy:
I was on breathing medication.

Medication for seizures.

Medication to help go to the bathroom.

Pain medication, anxiety medication.

Just everything.

I would have to put on

the breathing machine every night.

I hated it, though, because it seemed to make

my breathing worse, not better.

And then another machine

was for the feeding tube.

It was controlling what I'd eat.

My medications would be put through there.

I really wouldn't even have to be awake.

So, she could put whatever in my body,

and I wouldn't even know.

[Dee Dee and Gypsy on one of their

medical trips]

Dee Dee:
Hey, you make me wanna yawn.

So, where are you going today?

I'm going to Children's Mercy Hospital

to see my dentist.

For my teeth.

And we'll be back.

And we'll be back soon.

Not yet.

[According to medical records,]

[Dee Dee brought Gypsy to

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