Ken Urker Ended Gypsy Rose's Livestream and She Did THIS

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brueski and Robin Drake.

Tony Brueski (0:07)

When Gypsy Rose Blanchard walked out of prison in December of 2003, she had never lived alone, never paid a bill, never held a job, never made a decision without someone else controlling the outcome. Within a week, she had 10 million social media followers, a reality show, a book deal, and a marriage falling apart. This segment isn't about judging her behavior, it's about asking Shavaun here what normal actually looks like when you're 32 years old and starting from zero, and whether what we've been watching is dysfunction or someone learning to exist for the very first time. I mean, starting from zero, Gypsy really was. Gypsy was pulled out of school in second grade. Again, tell me how that's not abuse.

She was told she had the mind of a seven-year-old. Again, tell me how that's not abuse. Or was the seven-year-old abusing the mother at that point in time for people out there who are trying to pitch that one? She never learned to cook, budget, drive or hold a job. Again, tell me how that's not abuse.

Or make a friend without her mother screening the interaction. When someone walks out of a prison at 32 with the life experience of a child, what does starting over actually mean in terms of development when they've never started to begin with?

Shavaun Scott (1:24)

Right. There was so much developmental disruption for her. I mean, every possible facet of her life, her identity, her coping mechanisms, her education, her life skills, all of it was missing.

The healthiest thing for her, which is the opposite of what happened, would be to stay out of the limelight, to have some kind of, I mean, this is a person who really needs, in essence, reparenting. They need mentors. They need people who are going to give them skills, relate to them in a healthier way, refuse to be manipulated. And that's some kind of a halfway house or residential program where the therapy was available that she needs. But the worst thing that could happen is exactly what happened, which is she becomes the reality star, you know? She gets all this attention from the drama and the histrionics. And that, in essence, holds her back. It doesn't give her the skills or develop herself. Because this was a young woman who had no self.

She was an extension of what her mother told her she was. She didn't know how to trust her own perceptions. She doesn't know how to have healthy relationships. And so, yeah, she really needed to be reparented in some way. And that's not what's happened.

Robin Drake (2:47)

Yeah. She doubled down on the only skill set she had, and that was public perception manipulation. And within 15 minutes of her being released on the car ride back, she's taking a selfie and posting it.

Shavaun Scott (2:58)

Yeah.

Robin Drake (2:59)

And so she just doubled down on that only skill set she had. And I like that she needed reparenting because it stopped at, what, probably four years old.

Tony Brueski (3:10)

The relationship pattern continued. She married Ryan Anderson in prison, got released, left him within three months, reconnected with her ex-fiance, Ken Urker, immediately. Pregnant within weeks.

The pace isn't what concerns me. It's the pattern. I mean, this rapid relationship cycling. I mean, what this looks like through the lens of someone whose only model for connection was a mother who controlled every human interaction that she ever had. I mean, that's not, you're not going, how does someone get into the right mind space for a healthy relationship when they've only had some version of chaos demonstrated to them most of their existence?

Shavaun Scott (3:56)

They need a lot of support from other people, people who are there to really help them grow.

You know, I mentioned the word mentors, people who can guide them and give them a sense of, I care about you because I think that's, that's the core of these relationships with men is she's desperate for attachment. And so she goes for these intense but shallow attachments, one after another. And this very likely could be a pattern that she continues with finding people who appear to meet her needs and there's an intense attachment, but neither has relationship skills. It takes a lot of skills to make a relationship work. And they don't have that, so they don't stay together very long. And you know, it all makes sense, but probably not getting into a relationship immediately until she's done some work would have been a better way to go.

Robin Drake (4:53)