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Gypsy Rose Blanchard has announced that she is expecting her first child with ex-fiancé Ken Urker.
On July 9, the 32-year-old media personality revealed that she and Urker are set to welcome their first child together early next year. “We are proud to announce that we are expecting our first child in January 2025,” Blanchard wrote in her Instagram announcement, which included several photos of the reunited couple posing under a tree.
In one photo, Blanchard wore a flowing white knee-length dress and held a sonogram, while Urker stood behind her and held her growing baby bump. In other photos, the author wore a multicolored paisley-print dress, while Urker sported a white button-down shirt by Polo Ralph Lauren and beige pants.
The couple, who reunited in April following Blanchard's split from ex-husband Ryan Anderson, were also seen holding a small cream-colored knit sweater, with the word “Hello” stitched onto it.
Blanchard shared more details about her “unexpected” pregnancy in a nine-minute YouTube video uploaded on Tuesday. She acknowledged that fans had speculated about her pregnancy prior to the announcement, telling the camera, “I know rumors have been circulating for quite some time and I’m happy to announce that I’m 11 weeks pregnant.”
Although she admitted that her pregnancy was “not planned at all,” Blanchard maintained that she and Urker are “very excited” to become parents next year.
Blanchard took the opportunity to address concerns that she is not ready to be a mother, following her release from prison in December 2023. She had pleaded guilty in 2016 to the second-degree murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, and served eight years of her sentence at the Chillicothe Correctional Facility in Missouri. A subsequent investigation found that Blanchard was abused by her mother, who forced her to pretend she suffered from leukemia, muscular dystrophy and other serious illnesses.
“I know there are going to be people who think I’m not ready to be a mother, and I don’t know if anyone is really ready to be a mother,” Blanchard said. “I don’t know anyone who says, ‘OK, I’m ready. I’m going to do this.’”
She noted that she felt “a shift” after discovering she was pregnant and explained that “nothing else mattered” other than the health of her unborn child. However, Blanchard soon became emotional as she shared her hopes of giving her child “all the things” that “I wished I had when I was little.”
“I want to give this baby everything I wanted in a mother,” she said. “I just want to be a good mother to my child. I want to be everything my mother wasn’t.”
Blanchard and Urker met in 2018, while she was serving time in prison in Missouri. Although the couple got engaged in 2019, Urker ended up calling off their relationship in 2020.
The reunited couple was spotted in April getting matching dog tattoos and having public relations, according to photos captured by TMZSpeaking about the status of their relationship, Blanchard told the outlet at the time: “After reconnecting earlier this month, we realized that our love for each other is simply undeniable and that life is too short not to take risks.”
“We have a history that has been the perfect foundation for a new beginning. We are together and in a wonderful moment in our relationship. We know that we have a long road ahead of us, but we are excited about the future,” he added.
Blanchard's new relationship came just weeks after announcing her split from ex-husband Ryan Anderson. She subsequently filed a temporary restraining order against Anderson, who responded with his own restraining order against Blanchard. The former couple met in 2020 after the special education teacher sent letters to Blanchard in prison. They tied the knot in July 2022 during a small ceremony at the Chillicothe Correctional Center.
In 2015, Blanchard's then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, stabbed her mother at least 17 times in their Springfield, Missouri, home while Blanchard hid in a bathroom during the assault. Blanchard and Godejohn then stole money from Dee Dee and traveled to Wisconsin by bus. Authorities were alerted to a post on Dee Dee's Facebook page, which read, “That bitch is dead!”, and found her body on June 14, 2015. Blanchard and Godejohn were later arrested and charged with murder.
Prosecutors said Dee Dee had Munchausen syndrome by proxy (a psychological disorder in which parents make up their daughter's illness, according to the National Institutes of Health) and subjected her daughter to unnecessary medical treatments for two decades. Blanchard testified in court that Dee Dee had falsely claimed she suffered from diseases including leukemia and muscular dystrophy. In a 2017 interview with Dr. Phil, she claimed her mother also shaved her head and force-fed her through a feeding tube.
Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, while Godejohn was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murder and 25 years in prison for armed criminal action.
