Mel, meanwhile, is initially skeptical of Dee Dee’s “perfect mom” act, but the two eventually warm up to each other, bonding over their shared experience of being single mothers. The teens become fast friends, and soon Lacey is sheltered Gypsy’s only link to the outside world. Lacey, who is around the same age of Gypsy but looks considerably older, makes the first move to befriend her new neighbors. However, moments later we see Dee Dee shave her daughter’s head in the kitchen sink, the first clue that things aren’t what they seem. With her bald head, frail physique, and wheelchair, young Gypsy, who is about 17 at this point but lead to believe by her mom that she is four years younger, certainly looks the part of a child who is not long for this world. We first meet them giving a TV interview, the reporter visibly moved by this devoted mother and her doting daughter. Flashback to seven years earlier, Dee Dee and Gypsy move into their new pink house in Missouri, a home that was built for them by Habitat for Humanity. “The Act” opens on the night of Dee Dee’s murder, after a suspicious Facebook post leads neighbor Mel ( Chloë sevigny ) and her daughter Lacey ( AnnaSophia Robb ) to the Blanchards’ door, where they make the decision to contact law enforcement after hearing no signs of life. “The Act” focuses not so much on the fraud part of the Blanchards’ story, but on the twisted and claustrophobic relationship between the mother and daughter.

Now, almost four years after Dee Dee’s murder, a new Hulu limited series, “ The Act ,” has dramatised this compelling story, with none other than Patricia Arquette portraying Dee Dee, and talented rising actress Joey King taking on the role of Gypsy. Mother and daughter received money, free trips, and even a new house from charities and individuals touched by their plight. The story of the Blanchards is something of cautionary tale, as few questioned Dee Dee’s deceptive behavior even doctors and Gypsy’s own father, for the most part, took her reports of her daughter’s fake medical conditions, which included Leukemia and muscular dystrophy, at face value. Gypsy, a victim of extreme Munchausen syndrome by proxy, claimed that only by her mother’s death could she be set free. Of all the crime documentaries that have popped up on various platforms these past few years, few have been quite as shocking as “ Mommy Dead and Dearest ,” the HBO doc about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard, a crime in which her own daughter, Gypsy Rose, was convicted for her role. ‘The Act’: Bizarre True Crime Story Brought to Life in Captivating Hulu Series

True story about the act