by Anika Lippke ‘24, Commentary Editor

^{The first post-prison selfie tweeted by Gypsy Rose Blanchard @GypsyRose_B on X.}

Remember when Britney Spears went bald? 

I do, and I’m definitely not alone in thinking that’s off-putting. Spears shaved her head in a fit of mania after succumbing to the pressures of being constantly subjected to the spotlight, and what was the response? More attention. 

The public’s obsession with those in the limelight is as relentless as it is volatile, with the most seemingly random events becoming historical moments in pop culture overnight. 

Which brings me to Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her rise to fame. If you’re getting frustrated with the ubiquitous appearance of the selfie that has been plastered across social media like a Nike advertisement, you’re in good company. On December 28, 2023, X, formerly known as Twitter, started inundating with posts about 32-year-old Gypsy Rose Blanchard following her release from prison. It was then that Blanchard’s internet empire laid their first stones. 

In 2015, then-23-year-old Gypsy Rose Blanchard was arrested for the second-degree murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. She was assisted by Nicholas Godejohn, her boyfriend at the time, who is currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. But why did Gypsy help plan the murder of her own mother?

The story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard is a disheartening one, lending her sympathy from the public because of how she spent her formative years tormented by her mother’s condition. Throughout Gypsy’s childhood, Dee Dee, who suffered from Munchausen’s by proxy, convinced Gypsy and everyone in her life that Gypsy had a slew of serious conditions including leukemia and muscular dystrophy. She even forced Gypsy to use a wheelchair and eat from a feeding tube, both of which were unequivocally unnecessary. Because of the complications from the useless procedures that Gypsy was forced to undergo, several of her teeth and her salivary glands were removed. Only once Gypsy realized the nature of her mother’s medical abuse and failed several times to escape from the situation, did she resort to murder.

The current obsession with Gypsy Rose has little to do with her history as a killer, though. It has been known for years that Generation Z’s criteria for what merits  celebrity status are questionable and maybe even arbitrary. Seemingly insignificant individuals like Brittany Broski — who, although being virtually unknown to anyone by name, has still amassed a YouTube following of almost 2 million subscribers— have been elevated to fame by the internet and the industry alike just for having a video or meme go viral. It seems that the internet’s criteria for their “favorite people” depend on that person’s “relatability” and their potential to create phrases that the internet can reuse. Instead of fixating on her compelling story, the internet is simply captivated by Gypsy’s relationships, her image, and the fact that the first thing that she did after getting released from prison was get her nails done.

Consequently, Gypsy Rose has accumulated a following of over 8 million, a sharp increase from the 4.7 million followers she had on December 31, 2023. She was interviewed by Good Morning America on December 28, 2023 and was featured in a Lifetime docuseries called “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.” This type of coverage is a true crime treat for Generation Z, because they are for once given a compelling protagonist to “root for” in place of a sociopath, both in the context of her story and her present life today. 

Although these arbitrary obsessions seem like a harmless phenomenon that at most elevates certain lucky individuals into the spotlight for a small period of time, it speaks to a larger, strange condition that afflicts most of Gen Z. In an age where TikTok and other social media apps are becoming substitute “third places” where many people gather to make meaningful connections with others, there has been an influx in parasocial relationships formed between people — particularly young people — and celebrities. When we have access to so many intimate details about the lives of people, it’s easy to feel like these people are our friends or members of our community, when in reality we know little to nothing about their true character. The result is that many young people treat these celebrities like their “friends” because of the believed involvement in their lives despite the one-sided nature of the “relationship.” When this treatment is caused in part out of pity or to patronize the celebrity, as is the case with Gypsy Rose, it also enables individuals to gain satisfaction out of belittling others. 

For Gypsy Rose, this short period will be her time to soak up the limelight as she finds her each and every action tracked, quoted, and memed across social media. But for Generation Z, the implications of this phenomenon raise larger questions about privacy and the boundaries between real life, social media, and the private lives of celebrities. The bald Britney Spears incident in this case is a good example of both the causes for and consequences of this hyper-obsession, the deterioration in her mental health becoming severe due to intense scrutiny from the paparazzi. But as is the case with Britney Spears, trends come and go, and for better or worse, the world will eventually move on from Gypsy Rose, allowing her to finally get on with living normally for the first time in her life.