A TikTok user has shared her experience with murderer Gypsy Rose Blanchard, and provided images to prove it, in a now-viral TikTok video with over six million likes.
On May 15, TikTok user @Annakateeh took to the social media platform to post about her childhood memory of Blanchard. Using the popular TikTok audio "Cigarette", which often recounts dark stories, the text reads: "Guys, me and my family went to Disney when I was six."
"Notice anyone in the background?" continues the text as images begin to appear on-screen, showing an instantly recognizable face, especially for true-crime fans. The first image shows Dee Dee Blanchard, kneeling down to take a photo. The following images all contain Gypsy Rose Blanchard herself, wearing a Little Mermaid fancy dress outfit.
"We literally talked to them and wished her prayers," finished the text.
In following videos, the TikTok user explains how she realizes it was Gypsy Rose Blanchard after: "When her story came out on the news, my parents were like 'Didn't we see her in Disney, so my dad went back and looked at our old pictures and we saw her in the background.'"
@annakateeh this still gives me the creeps #greenscreen #crimetok #gypsyrose #fyp #foryou #disneyworld #blanchard #foryoupage #PonderWithZion #MAKEYOURMOVE
♬ Its just a cigarette - Cassie
"I have a slight memory of meeting her, but it's mostly just pictures and my parents telling me about what happened. In 2015, when we found out it was her, I was very surprised to find out what happened with her, her boyfriend and her mom," explains Anna Kate to Newsweek. Anna Kate also says it was the Gypsy Rose TikTok content already out there that inspired her to post her video too.
Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee Blanchard often received free Disney World trips under the pretense that Gypsy Blanchard was dealing with long-term illnesses. Charitable donations received by the mother became a focal point for the storyline of Hulu's The Act, a true-crime drama starring Joey King as Gypsy Blanchard.
In 2016, Gypsy Blanchard pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison after the death of her mother. Dee Dee Blanchard had spent her daughter's life faking medical issues, including chromosomal disorder, and the need for a wheelchair. The facade created by Dee Dee Blanchard even stemmed into lies about her daughter's age and false stories of being Hurricane Catrina victims.
With the rise of true-crime communities, the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard has become a talking point for users on TikTok in recent months. Similarly, users have also turned their interest to the likes of the Menendez brothers, with calls for them to be freed from jail decades after the murder of their parents.
After the release of The Act in 2019, interest toward the Gypsy Rose Blanchard story within the true-crime community spiked. Now, the #GypsyRose tag has over 350 million views on TikTok and viral videos include users searching her previous Facebook account and retelling the story to viewers.
05/19/21 02:11 a.m. ET: This story was updated to include comments from the TikTok creator.
