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Louise Thomas
Editor
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has announced she is expecting her first child with former 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 we are expecting our first child in January 2025,” Blanchard captioned her Instagram announcement, which featured several photos of the rekindled couple posing under a tree.
In one photo, Blanchard wore a flowy white knee-length dress and held up an ultrasound picture, as Urker stood behind her and cradled her growing baby bump. Other photos showed the author wearing a paisley multi-colored dress, while Urker donned a white Polo Ralph Lauren button-up shirt and beige trousers.
The couple – who reunited in April following Blanchard’s separation from her estranged husband, Ryan Anderson – were also seen holding up a small cream-colored knit sweater, with the word “Hi” stitched on it.
Blanchard shared more details about her “unexpected” pregnancy in a nine-minute YouTube video uploaded on Tuesday. She acknowledged how fans had speculated she was pregnant prior to the announcement, telling the camera: “I know the rumors have been flying around for quite some time now and I’m happy to announce that I am 11 weeks pregnant.”
Although she admitted that her pregnancy was “not planned at all,” Blanchard maintained that she and Urker are “both very excited” to become parents next year.
Blanchard took the opportunity to address concerns that she’s unprepared 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 Center in Missouri. An investigation later found that Blanchard was abused by her mother, who forced her to pretend she was suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and other serious illnesses.
“I know that there are going to be people that feel like I’m not ready to be a mother, and I don’t know if anyone’s really ready to become a mother,” Blanchard said. “I don’t know anyone that said, ‘Okay, I’m ready. I’m doing this.’”
She noted that she felt “a shift” after discovering she was pregnant, and explained how “none of anything else mattered” besides the health of her soon-to-be baby. However, Blanchard soon became emotional as she shared her hopes to give “all of the things” to her child that “I wished I could’ve had when I was little.”
“All the things that I wanted in a mother, I want to give to this baby,” she said. “I just want to be a good mother for my child. I want to be everything my mother wasn’t.”
Blanchard and Urker first met in 2018 while she was serving her prison sentence in Missouri. Although the pair were engaged in 2019, Urker ended up calling things off in 2020.
The rekindled couple were spotted in April getting matching dog tattoos and engaging in PDA, according to photos captured by TMZ. Speaking about their relationship status, Blanchard told the outlet at the time: “After reconnecting earlier this month, we realized that our love for each other is simply undeniable, and life is too short to not take a chance.”
“We have a history that made for the perfect foundation for a new beginning. We are together and in a wonderful place in our relationship. We know it is going to be a long road ahead but are excited for the future,” she added.
Blanchard’s new relationship came just weeks after announcing her separation from ex-husband Ryan Anderson. She later 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 had sent Blanchard letters in prison. They were married in July 2022 during a small ceremony at Chillicothe Correctional Center.
In 2015, Blanchard’s then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn stabbed her mother at least 17 times at her home in Springfield, Missouri, as 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 B*** 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 where parents fabricate their child’s illness, according to the National Institutes of Health – and subjected her daughter to unnecessary medical treatments over two decades. Blanchard testified in court that Dee Dee had falsely claimed she suffered from conditions such as leukemia and muscular dystrophy. In a 2017 interview with Dr. Phil, she claimed that her mother also shaved her head and forced her to eat through a feeding tube.
Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, while Godejohn was eventually found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for murder and 25 years for armed criminal action.
