Ryan Scott Anderson on Gypsy Rose Blanchard: 'Here one day and the next she was gone'

Less than six months ago, Gypsy Rose Blanchard began living life as a free woman after she was released from prison on parole. She served seven years out of a 10-year sentence for her role in the murder of her mother.

Waiting to pick her up in the early hours on Dec. 28, 2023, was her then-husband Ryan Scott Anderson, whom she married in a jailhouse ceremony in 2022 after he wrote her a letter while she was imprisoned.

The pair began a whirlwind journey as Blanchard adjusted to life outside of prison, plus learning to live in her newfound fame. By June 2024, the pair were in the midst of a divorce, Anderson told TODAY.com over Zoom.“It was like, she was here one day and the next she was gone,” Anderson said. “She wanted to be married, and now she doesn’t. It’s just crazy how it all happened like that.”

“I probably know her better than anybody else in the world,” Anderson said.

Blanchard’s past as a likely victim of her mother Dee Dee Blanchard’s Munchausen syndrome by proxy had been highly publicized in TV series and films.

As a child, Blanchard’s mother forced her to use a wheelchair and oxygen tank and took her to doctors to treat her for conditions like leukemia and muscular dystrophy — that she never actually had, Blanchard testified in court.Blanchard and her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn plotted to kill her mother, who was found stabbed to death in her home in 2015. Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016, and Godejohn was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2019. He was convicted of first-degree for stabbing Dee Dee Blanchard to death in her bedroom, after first pleading not guilty. He has since expressed regret, calling it a “mistake” in an Oxygen documentary.

Blanchard met Anderson, a sixth grade social studies teacher from Louisiana, while she was in prison. In “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard,” Anderson explained he sent her a letter as part of a pact with a friend, who was inspired to write to “Tiger King” subject and convicted felon Joe Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic. Maldonado-Passage was convicted of animal abuse and attempted murder-for-hire.

“The thing that stuck out the most about Ryan’s letter is not only how genuine it came across, but also how how funny he is. His sense of humor was great,” Blanchard said of Anderson.

Now, Anderson said, “I probably know her better than anybody else in the world. She was more than just that person to me. I didn’t look at her as what she did as who she was.”

Blanchard’s life following her release from prison was documented for the eight-episode Lifetime series “Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up.” New episodes premiere Mondays at 9 p.m.

In the first episode of the series, Anderson picks up Blanchard from prison, and they spend their first night together, despite having been married since July 2022.

“Well, you know, I’ve known her for a long time ... like, we’ve been talking for years. May [was] four years that we’ve known each other,” Anderson said. “Living with Gypsy is different than talking to her on the phone — that’s definitely different. But what you see is what you get with Gypsy.”

He added, “We were learning how to be in this world and being filmed the whole time. It was definitely a culture shock.”

One moment that stands out is when Blanchard asked Anderson how to text someone back on her iPhone, he said.

“Those are some of the things that I love, those moments between me and her. She’s trying to figure out her phone and I’m an Android guy,” he said. “I got her an iPhone and so sometimes, she’d ask some questions I wouldn’t know how to answer. I cherish moments like that, where she didn’t know how to do something and I had to show her how.”

In the days after her release from prison, Blanchard became a social media sensation nearly overnight. Anderson recalled Blanchard posting a photo in her hotel room the morning she was released to her then 100,000 followers. When they checked later that night, she had more than 4 million.“It was cool that she got so many followers so fast. It was definitely eye-opening to see how fast it just blew up. That was a shocking surprise,” Anderson said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”

“Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up” shows what the 31-year-old first did after her release, including getting fries from McDonald’s, purchasing shoes that fit and attempting to go to a football game.

The tasks seemed mundane, but Blanchard and Anderson soon realized they carried great interest. In the show, they step out of the car to go to a strip mall in Missouri only to find a handful of men with cameras and cellphones out filming.“That was when we realized like, ‘Oh, wow, people are invested.’ That was a shocking surprise that first weekend she got out ... they followed us home for like, two hours,” Anderson said. “It was insane being followed at first.”

Anderson said it has been “overwhelming” to revisit the early months of 2024 as the series premieres.

“I remember those moments. I lived it. It’s hard to see it from a different angle. You see different aspects and things. You could catch things that you didn’t see in person,” he said. “It is definitely weird to see it.”

“I’m just experiencing things as they come. I’m still in reflection and processing mode,” he said. “A lot has happened. It’s hard to wrap my head around a lot of things that have happened because, I mean, when I say I’m blindsided, I really am blindsided about how fast things progressed.”

Blanchard told People last month she’s in a new relationship with her ex-fiancé Ken Urker, whom she also met while she was imprisoned, and said that for the first time in her life, she’s “doing something that makes me happy — I’m prioritizing me.”

Anderson said he didn’t have a response to her comments, and that the pair are still in the process of getting a divorce.

“Me and her have always had love towards each other and that has never changed — love was never our problem,” Anderson said. “We are going through a divorce and it’s hard ... it’s hard on both of us. I do know that.”

As for what’s coming in the next episodes? “I think people are going to get inside of me and Gypsy’s relationship and our marriage, and people are going to come up with their own conclusions and in their own judgments,” he said.

“I experienced it, I lived it, I know the truth. I know what really happened,” he added. “We experienced a lot, we did a lot and people are going to see it. They’re going to get an inside look at our relationship.”

Anderson says he’s still a teacher, and remained one while filming the show, before reflecting on the series as a whole.

“There’s things that probably shouldn’t have been seen or mentioned on camera, maybe some of those moments like that,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t have any regrets really, as far as my actions and what I did. I stand by everything I did and said.”

“We’re going to see a girl come out of prison and experience the real world and all the changes that come with it. You’re going to see her being influenced by outside influences, you’re going to see her growing, you’re going to see her changing her appearance,” he continued. “You’re just going to see a lot — there’s a lot that happened. Gypsy’s still in the process of finding herself, and I hope she does.”