After her death, Blanchard was posthumously diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental health disorder in which a person makes up or causes illness in a person under their care.Īctor Patricia Arquette, who plays Blanchard in the new Hulu series The Act, says it was "very weird" to get into the character's head: "I had to kind of think of who Dee Dee was outside of all of those judgments people had after the fact."Īrquette sees Munchausen syndrome by proxy as a sign of "toxic codependency," in which a parent feels the need to care for a child to an extreme degree. In 2015, a woman named Dee Dee Blanchard was found stabbed to death in the Missouri home she shared with her teenage daughter, Gypsy Rose.Īs the details surrounding the murder came out, it was revealed that Blanchard had falsely convinced Gypsy Rose and everyone they knew - including doctors - that Gypsy Rose was seriously ill and needed to use a wheelchair.
Patricia Arquette plays a mother who convinces the world that her daughter (Joey King) is seriously ill, in the Hulu series The Act.