Gypsy Rose Blanchard Explains Her New Handle on Instagram and Her Verified Status

With a life as troubled and turbulent as Gypsy Rose Blanchard's, nearly everything in her life is at least a little newsworthy. The 33-year-old woman rose to prominence after she was convicted of the second-degree murder of her abusive mother, Dee Dee, on June 9, 2015. Dee Dee had long subjected her daughter to Munchhausen-by-proxy syndrome, a mental health disorder in which a caregiver simulates illnesses or physical ailments in order to keep another person dependent on them.

Despite her heavy crime and subsequent decade-long prison sentence, Blanchard quickly gained something of a following for having escaped her abuser. After being released from prison in December 2023, she became the subject of several docuseries and her life even inspired The Act, a limited series on Hulu released in 2019.

She was even quick to join social media after her release but has had several issues on Instagram. Most recently, she changed her IG name and is no longer verified. Let's break down what happened.

At the height of her popularity, Blanchard had over 7.8 million Instagram. However, she completely deleted her initial account in March 2024. Interestingly enough, she explained the status of her Instagram on TikTok, where she currently has more than 10 million followers.

She stated, "I do my best to live my authentic life and what's real to me, and what's not real is social media. Social media is literally a doorway to hell."

That said, she made the plunge back to Instagram when she started a new account a month later in April 2024. The account currently has 683,000 followers, a large number to be sure but considerably less than she had on her previous Instagram or even on her current TikTok.

From there, however, she underwent a bit of a name change. Her account is now called @gypsyrosemedia, and said account is no longer verified. She explains further in an Instagram story, posted on Sept. 3, 2024.

"I recently changed my username across all platforms in order to be more uniform," she explains. "I also changed my profile picture, displaying one of Ken [Urker] and I. Some of you have also noticed that my verified check mark is gone from my profiles. This happens when major changes are made such as a username change. I will renew my verification soon. Thank you for understanding."

True to her word, all of her social media platforms have been changed to "gypsyrosemedia."

While concerns over identities on the internet, especially for celebrities, are never quite unfounded, Blanchard seems to have taken steps to make sure that all of her social media platforms are on the up and up. Despite her bold and not entirely unfounded arguments against social media, she still works to keep her followers updated on things that are happening within her life.

As of this writing, her social media accounts are still active and updated regularly.