Gypsy Rose Blanchard.Photo: Courtesy ABC News
“I’ve gotten to a point where I can stand on my own two feet and say, this happened to me and I’m not going to let it affect me anymore,” tells PEOPLE about the alleged abuse. “And that’s why I’m talking about it now. And I think for me, making it known that it happened might prevent him from doing the same thing to another family member or another child or another person because he’s still alive.”
In the documentary, Pitre was directly asked about the allegation, which he denied — while also making a shocking claim of his own.
“She was the one that was trying to touch me, and I’d say no, don’t do that,” Pitre claims in the documentary. “She started doing that when she was about 4 years old.”
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, left, and Dee Dee Blanchard.Courtesy Blanchard Family
Courtesy Blanchard Family
When told about her grandfather’s claim, Gypsy tells the interviewing producer that she wants “nothing to do with him.”
In her interview with PEOPLE, Gypsy says she was hesitant to tell her mother about the abuse and that she was 19 when she finally told Dee Dee, 10 years after she said it happened.
Pitre did not respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.
For more on Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s case,subscribe now to PEOPLE, or pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.
Gypsy’s interviews featured in the upcoming Lifetime series were filmed shortly before her release. She had been in prison since 2016, when she pleaded guilty to murdering her mother, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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In her court testimony, Gypsy said she talked Nicholas Godejohn, whom she met online, into killing her mother. Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder in 2019 and sentenced to life without parole, according to court records. Godejohn and Gypsy have since separated.
Dee Dee, who had convinced people in her life that her daughter was terminally ill, is said to have subjected Gypsy to painful medical treatments that were never needed.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
source: people.com
