Gypsy Rose Blanchard's Real Court Appearances Vs. Hulu's The Act

Now that we've reached the seventh episode of Hulu's The Act, we've seen Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King) appear in court for the first time. She is weeping and terrified. Prior to that, King's version of Gypsy appears meek and childlike in the lead-up and after she and her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn (Calum Worthy), murdered her mother, Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette), who spent years concocting fake health conditions to keep Gypsy trapped in their home.

While Nick and Gypsy's goal was to attain freedom and independence, Gypsy seems more frightened than ever as she and Nick grapple with their new lives on the run. This depiction doesn't appear to be too far off from Gypsy's real-life demeanor.

Despite their plans of living a full life together, authorities caught and arrested the real Gypsy and Godejohn at the Godejohn home in Wisconsin only five days after they stabbed Dee Dee to death with a knife. It wasn't long after that the two appeared in court wearing orange prison jumpsuits. On the series, King's Gypsy is extremely nervous in court, and footage of her first court appearance seems similar, but in her later appearances, Gypsy did seem calmer and more confident.

Video from Gypsy's first court appearance, just two days after she was arrested on June 17, 2015, shows her trembling and sobbing as she addresses the room and confirms her home address. ABC News retrieved audio from one of Gypsy's phone calls (below) to her father, Rod Blanchard, from around the same time of her first court appearance. Her voice shook as she said, "The stuff they say in the news is horrible and not true. You know that I love my mama, and you know that I would never hurt her. Just know that I'm innocent and I'm still your little girl."

One year later, Gypsy appeared much more calm as she plead guilty to second-degree murder (video here) and received a 10-year prison sentence. While her high-pitched voice remained the same, Gypsy's hair then reached her shoulders, and she was able to speak without crying.

Later, in 2017, Gypsy appeared on The Dr. Phil Show (video below) and said she felt terrible about concocting a plan to murder her mother. "I wish I wouldn't have done any of that... She didn't deserve what happened," she said as she cried. "If anything, she just deserved to be where I am."

Despite Dee Dee's past claims that Gypsy had the mental capacity of a child, Gypsy seemed fully cognizant of what had happened as she detailed years of abuse. "I trusted her so much," she told Dr. Phil. "She told me that she loved me, that she was trying to protect me. The only person I needed protection from was her." Gypsy also assured viewers that while her mother had taught her "how to be a good, a very good liar," she was "nothing" like Dee Dee now and was actively working to better herself.

In November 2018, when Gypsy testified at Godejohn's trial (video here), for nearly an hour, she succinctly answered questions about her role in Dee Dee's murder, describing the night, the years leading up to it, and the aftermath (including the cleanup and their arrest in Wisconsin) in detail. She shed a few tears, but nothing more. Ultimately, her testimony was vital in the court's decision to convict Godejohn of first-degree murder and sentence him to a life in prison without parole.

While Gypsy's demeanor shifted numerous times, her situation is also quite complex. It's impossible to make any true judgement about where she stood at any given time, so we have to let the footage and her later statements stand for themselves.