Share and Follow
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the 33-year-old Missouri woman convicted of killing her mother in 2015, is now a mom herself.
Her infant daughter, named Aurora, was born at 9:48 a.m. on December 28, weighing 6 lbs., 5 oz., a representative for Blanchard told People.
Blanchard’s boyfriend, Ken Urker, announced news of the birth to his 104K Instagram followers on New Year’s Day, posting a photo that shows Blanchard in a hospital bed cradling her daughter and gazing adoringly alongside a smiling Urker.
The caption for the family snapshot reads, “Welcoming 2025 with the greatest gift of all.” The announcement is punctuated by an angel emoji.
The couple has relied on social media to celebrate becoming parents. In July, Blanchard joyfully shared her pregnancy news in a since-deleted YouTube video.
“We’re both very excited,” Blanchard announced, according to msn.com. “It was completely unexpected, but we’re both very excited to take on this new journey of parenthood.”
Baby Aurora’s arrival comes exactly one year after Blanchard was granted early release from prison. Blanchard was imprisoned after her former internet love interest, Nicholas Godejohn, fatally stabbed her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, in her sleep.
Why is Gypsy Rose’s baby named Aurora?
At her baby shower in November, Blanchard revealed to People that she planned to call her daughter Aurora Raina Urker.
The name was her boyfriend’s brainchild, Blanchard revealed in another People report. “There’s a whole backstory to it,” she said.
Blanchard went on to explain that the name isn’t a mirror image of the princess’ name in Disney’s animated version of Sleeping Beauty. Nor was the name chosen because of Blanchard’s stepmother Kristy having a dog named Aurora Grace, according to msn.com.
Instead, the couple was inspired by the Aurora Borealis, a stunning natural phenomena. “Back whenever Ken and I were together seven years ago, both of us [had] a fascination with the Northern Lights, and the proper term is the Aurora Borealis,” Blanchard told People.
In 2018, she added, each of them independently chose Aurora when they were discussing names for their future kids.
The name Aurora continued to shine with constancy, even though Blanchard and Urker’s relationship went through some major changes.
Who is Gypsy Rose’s boyfriend, Ken Urker?
Blanchard and Urker became pen pals following Blanchard’s conviction. He reached out to her after watching the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, which covered “Blanchard’s early life and the abuse she endured from her mother Dee Dee,” People reported in July.
The couple got engaged in 2019 while Blanchard was still behind bars. However, the two quietly split in 2020 and Blanchard went on to marry Ryan Anderson, from whom she separated in March of this year and is now officially divorced.
Shortly after separating from Anderson, Blanchard and Urker rekindled their romance. The pair was spotted getting matching tattoos at a Louisiana tattoo parlor in April. Three months later, Blanchard shared that they were expecting their first child together.
In a now-deleted YouTube video, Blanchard noted that she and Urker share an “unconventional” relationship and that both “came from broken homes,” so they hope to provide their daughter the childhoods they never had.
Gypsy Rose’s criminal history
During Blanchard’s trial, it was revealed in court that Dee Dee lived with Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (formerly [and still commonly] referred to as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy).
It came out that Dee Dee likely subjected Blanchard to unnecessary medical procedures for financial and opportunistic gain throughout her life. Blanchard served seven years of a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
