Gypsy Rose Blanchard is expecting her first child with boyfriend Ken Urker.
The 32-year-old shared the news in a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday.
“I know the rumors have been flying around for quite some time now, and I’m happy to announce that I am 11 weeks pregnant. Ken and I are expecting our very first child come January 2025. We’re both very excited,” she said.
“This was not planned at all. It was completely unexpected, but we’re both very excited to take on this new journey of parenthood,” Blanchard said.
The news comes months after Blanchard’s release from prison on Dec. 28, 2023, after serving less than 10 years for her mother’s murder. Authorities believe Blanchard was a victim of Munchausen by proxy under the care of her mom.
Following her release, Blanchard moved in with husband Ryan Anderson, whom she wed while serving time in prison.
But three months after moving in together, Blanchard and Anderson filed for divorce.
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Shortly after, Blanchard rekindled a romance with Urker, whom she initially met years ago as a pen pal through prison, according to People. Urker proposed to Blanchard in 2018, but the two had ended things prior to her release.
Now, Urker and Blanchard are navigating their journey together as parents-to-be.
Blanchard said before she found out she was pregnant she noticed some clues. The first was cravings — specifically the desire to drink orange juice daily. Then she noticed an “insatiable hunger to just eat everything.”
At a previous OB/GYN appointment, Blanchard had been told she wasn’t ovulating regularly, so she had initially ruled out a missed period as a sign of pregnancy.
She said once she saw the positive pregnancy test, however, “everything just made sense.”
As far as pregnancy symptoms, Blanchard said she is experiencing “crazy” mood swings — “poor Ken,” she joked. Blanchard called herself one of the lucky ones for not experiencing major morning sickness.
“So far pregnancy has been a breeze as far as symptoms,” Blanchard said.
She said her tiredness, which was one of her biggest symptoms, is starting to subside, and that the rest is “completely manageable.”
Because she has dealt with some online scrutiny, Blanchard addressed how her pregnancy may be perceived by the public.
“I know that there are going to be people that feel like I’m not ready to become a mother, and I don’t know that anyone is really ready to become a mother,” she said.
But she said she certainly feels a shift in herself.
“When I found out that I was pregnant, none of anything else mattered,” Blanchard said, pointing to social media criticism and a rumored feud.
She said all that matters is that she, her baby and her relationship with Urker are healthy.
She said despite her and Urker both coming from broken homes — his parents are divorced and she basically grew up without a father — they are committed to changing the narrative for their child.
“We both agree that neither one of us wants our child to be in that kind of a situation,” Blanchard said.
She said as unconventional as their relationship may be, she “couldn’t be happier.”
