Christmas came a couple of days late for newly released Gypsy Rose Blanchard – but she still managed to celebrate with family and friends.
Her dad Rod and stepmother Kristy were both on hand at a secret safehouse outside Kansas City on Thursday evening, less than 24 hours after her release from a Missouri prison, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Munchausen by proxy victim Gypsy was freed from custody Thursday morning after serving seven years for the murder of her abusive mom Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard in 2015.
Her post-incarceration life kicked off with a night in a budget hotel with husband Ryan Anderson, followed by a trip to Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse – where she posed for DailyMail.com in new sneakers and giggled: ‘I love them.’
Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Gypsy Rose’s father Rod Blanchard taking out boxes and gift wrapping paper from the garage on Thursday after a belated Christmas celebration at an Airbnb rental outside of Kansas City
Rod and his wife Kristy reunited with Gypsy for the first time since she was released from prison on Thursday after serving a seven-year sentence
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has set up an Instagram account and posted her first post-prison selfie
The family gathered for an emotional Christmas reunion Thursday night at the rented home near Kansas City where she’s staying with teacher-husband Ryan, 36
Gypsy is now ready to put her years of incarceration behind her and begin post-prison life as an unlikely reality star.
Her to-do list includes a book launch, filming a docuseries and reportedly snagging tickets to Sunday’s Kansas City Chiefs game for an improbable meet-up with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
But before that she enjoyed an emotional Christmas reunion Thursday night with her dad and stepmom Rod and Kristy Blanchard at an Airbnb rental in Overland Park where she’s staying with teacher Ryan, 36.
A handful of close friends arrived bearing gifts for their newly released gal pal while a TV production crew filmed Gypsy’s every move.
In an interview last week Kristy mentioned how much Gypsy was looking forward to Christmas surrounded by family – even if Santa would have to wait an additional three days to pay her a visit.
‘We’re going to do Christmas. I’ve got a Christmas tree, I’ve got her so many gifts. I went overboard, actually,’ Kristy told NewsNation.
‘Oh, we’re also doing a spa day … we’re going to go get her pedicure, manicure, facial, haircut, colored if she wants, you know, the works, bring her shopping. She can’t wait.’
Rod and wife Kristy left the house early Friday morning, believed to be on their way back home to Louisiana.
Gypsy and husband Ryan made a pit stop at a McDonald’s drive-thru near Kansas City, Missouri on Friday to pick up lunch for themselves and their film crew
The abuse victim has been on the go since being released, traveling around the Kansas City area as they capture footage for her upcoming Lifetime film
The pair picked up lunch and then appeared to be heading towards Springfield, Missouri, where Gypsy lived with her mother
Gypsy and her husband were seen heading out later that morning – with their film crew in tow – and appear to be en route to Springfield, Missouri, where she lived with her late mother Dee Dee.
Driving off in their white Cadillac sedan, the couple stopped at a McDonald’s drive-thru south of Kansas City where they ordered food for themselves and the production crew.
On Friday Gypsy celebrated her freedom by taking to Instagram to post her first post-prison selfie.
The 32-year-old shared a mirror picture of herself smiling in a blue and white faded sweater and jeans with the caption ‘First selfie of freedom!’
In the first hour of the image being posted Blanchard gathered more than 160,000 likes and thousands of messages of support.
Blanchard spent her first day of freedom shopping for shoes, buying two pairs of sneakers at a nearby mall.
She was spotted leaving a Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in Chillicothe, Missouri, on Thursday – where she had crashed overnight shortly after walking free from prison almost 12 hours earlier.
Rod and his wife Kristy left the house early Friday morning, believed to be on their way back home to Louisiana – but not before clearing away the wrapping paper and packaging
In interviews last week, relatives described how much Gypsy had been looking forward to Christmas surrounded by family
Gypsy (pictured right as a child with her father) is seen left in a prison photo with dad Rod and stepmom Kristy Blanchard
Wearing a distressed sweatshirt, jeans, and only socks on her feet, the ex-con was helped by her husband as she carried her belongings – including two plastic grocery bags full of snacks – to their silver Cadillac sedan, DailyMail.com photos show.
They then drove to a local mall where she bought two pairs of sneakers.
The couple left the $150-a-night hotel around 11.15am in a convoy of cars including producers and a camera crew that have been following the abuse victim around for their Lifetime show.
They had rigged up GoPro cameras inside the car to capture her reaction.
Gypsy is expected to attend Sunday’s Kansas City Chiefs game against the Cincinatti Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday for an improbable meet-up with Taylor Swift.
Hours earlier on Thursday, Ryan Scott Anderson, the teacher she married behind bars last year, was seen pulling into the Chillicothe Correctional Center in northern Missouri, to pick his wife up at 3:20am.
A handful of close friends arrived bearing gifts for their newly released gal pal while a TV production crew filmed Gypsy’s every move
Guests arrive to visit at the secret safehouse to visit Gypsy Rose following her release
Claudine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard convinced her daughter Gypsy Rose and others that she was suffering a variety of illnesses including leukemia and muscular dystrophy. The abuse continued for years, until Gypsy Rose ordered her mother’s murder to ‘escape’
His Cadillac sedan, with a Bret ‘the Hitman’ Hart wrestling decal across the front license plate cover, emerged minutes later to whisk Gypsy away for her first night of freedom at the budget hotel.
The 32-year-old felon spent her childhood posing as a wheelchair-bound invalid after Claudine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard shaved her daughter’s head, pumped her full of drugs and convinced the world she was suffering from leukemia and muscular dystrophy.
Their ‘inseparable’ bond ended when Gypsy burst free of her warped mom’s control in 2015 by letting her besotted internet boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn creep into their Springfield, Missouri, home to stab 48-year-old Dee Dee to death.
Gypsy was jailed for 10 years for the matricide but was granted early parole in September after friends and family begged authorities to take account of the cruel abuse and needless medical procedures she endured while being cynically paraded at charity events and fundraisers.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s first stop on Thursday was at an Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse in Liberty, just outside Kansas City, to buy some new shoes after leaving prison in socks
Gypsy was snapped in public for the first time since her release from prison after checking out of a Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in Chillicothe where she spent her first night of freedom
The two spent the remainder of the night at a hotel in Chillicothe, before checking out later that morning to head to Kansas City
The network’s cameras have already been following her every move as Gypsy enjoys her first few days of freedom which will reportedly include a spa, shopping trip and a Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday – where she’s told TMZ she’s hoping to bump into Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
Fans can look forward to more snippets on social media profiles set up prior to her release including a TikTok page – already boasting 400,000-plus followers – which describes her as a ‘public figure/Speaker’ and links to her new eBook, Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom.
Gypsy’s media credits and prison interviews already include Dr Phil, Good Morning America and 20/20, while Hulu, Netflix and Lifetime have all aired TV dramas based on her ordeal.
She took part in the 2017 HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, and has an upcoming three-part docuseries, The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, airing January 5 through 7 on Lifetime.