The police department accepted Dee Dee's claims without further investigation, and simply noted in their report that Gypsy did indeed suffer from 'a mental handicap. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to ignore the occasional similarity the film’s base premise. Written by Michael Weaver, the main lead actor, and based on story ideas by William Paul Jones, Jay Kirk, and Darren Mann, the characters and events explored within the film are entirely fictional. By Peggy Truong Brownie Harris Hulu Have you heard Hulu has a new true-crime anthology. He was not notified, and the claims went unchecked. No, ‘Arctic Void’ is not based on a true story. The Shocking True Story About Gypsy Rose Blanchard in ‘The Act’ The more you know. Rod Blanchard, Gypsy's father, sent Dee Dee money monthly for his daughter's care. When the police paid Dee Dee and Gypsy a visit, Dee Dee explained that the inconsistent birth dates and name spellings were designed to evade an abusive husband. You can hear her squeaky voice in this interview from 2008 when she was almost 17. Two years later, an anonymous call to the Springfield Police Department expressed doubt that Gypsy was truly ill and requested authorities to take a look at inconsistencies on her birth certificate. The Act true story reveals that Gypsy Rose Blanchard's voice was indeed that high pitched, especially while she was under her mother's care. Though the girl had a relatively clean bill of health, doctors chose not to probe and instead treated her for vision, hearing, sleep, and salivation problems that stemmed from the muscular dystrophy Dee Dee insisted Gypsy had.Īccording to the BuzzFeed article, one doctor in Springfield, Missouri, pediatric neurologist Bernardo Flasterstein, did tell Dee Dee about his doubts in 2007 he even noted 'a strong possibility of Munchausen by proxy.' But nothing came of his suspicions.

With MSBP, doctors may be reluctant to bring up any suspicions that a patient or their caretaker is lying or exaggerating symptoms, because it could be harmful to the patient's wellbeing.Īs early as 2001, tests for Gypsy's muscular dystrophy and her brain and spine scans all came up negative for any issues. Patricia Arquette and Joey King in The Act Hulu + Brownie Harris People became suspicious about Gypsy's conditions.

True story based from the act movie