[Gypsy]
why my mother was moving from place to place to place.
Or why at certain times, we...
didn't have a place to live.
But it really kind of showed me
that all I really had in my life
was my mother.
[light music playing]
[Gypsy]
I am finally free
to build relationships and friendships.
The best memory that I have
in my entire life
is the day that I got to prison.
And I got to go out to the picnic tables.
And I'm like,
"I'm free."
I'm free to have friends,
I'm free to do what I want.
It might be in a controlled environment,
but this is nice.
-[laughs] -[woman] You're making fun.
It's the truth. It's such a good memory.
[laughs]
[light music playing]
[Kristy]
Dee Dee had called one day and said,
"She was diagnosed with leukemia."
[smacks lips]
[Kristy]
she has all of these illnesses
and then has this.
[Gypsy]
But I was going through so many medications and surgeries
that I didn't question it.
[gloomy music playing]
[Evans]
You know, it's kind of like, the wheelchair.
But then, Dee Dee was shaving Gypsy's head.
And saying that the medicine
is making her hair fall out.
So you really didn't know what was going on.
[Kristy]
years before we found out that,
you know, she didn't have leukemia.
That wasn't true.
That all of it's a lie.
[Beatrice]
go to the ends of the Earth
to maintain the charade...
of having a sick child.
[Robert] Feeding tube.
[gasps]
Wow.
After looking at the medical records,
apparently, Dee Dee had suggested to different doctors
that Gypsy was not getting enough calories
to allow her to gain weight,
meaning, by mouth.
Which is just wild,
because all of that was a lie.
[gloomy music playing]
[woman]
said that you have a fear of eating.
[Gypsy]
I mean, is that something that my mom said?
-[woman]
No, I've never had a fear of eating.
[Robert]
it's a doctor's job to figure out
what's real and what's not.
And that was not done for Gypsy.
Unfortunately, a decision was made
to have a surgical procedure put a hole into her skin
down to her stomach in order to feed.
[Gypsy]
that were being done to me fun,
and so like, the feeding tube's name
was Mickey Button.
And so, she came up with a song.
And it went like this.
♪ Mickey Button ♪
♪ M-I-C-K-E-Y ♪
♪ B-U-T-T-O-N ♪
♪ Mickey Button ♪
We find feeding tubes such a common aspect
of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy,
because a feeding tube
almost unlimited control
to poison and medicate
starve, and feed their kid.
[Gypsy]
She had, uh...
a feeding tube installed,
so, you know, she couldn't have any physical hard foods.
And so, they need to...
clean out some of that stuff from time to time.
[Gypsy]
um, especially when it needed to be changed,
because stomach acid erodes
the internal hardware of it.
And so, every six months,
it has to be replaced.
And when it has to be replaced,
the child or person
is not put under any type of general anesthesia.
They just deflate the balloon inside their stomach
that keeps the feeding tube in place.
And then they just flip it out.
Um, but it expands the incision
that it gets placed in.
And so, that part is, particularly painful.
They made me scream a couple of times.
I always would tell her, "I'm so proud of you," you know.
"For being so strong," and then...
being in such good spirits, um...
She never sounded depressed or sad.
[Gypsy]
when I was about 8 years old,
and had that feeding tube changed every six months
until I was 24.
[woman]
for 15 years?
[Gypsy]
[Michael]
rational human being on the planet
that would not agree
that what Dee Dee did to Gypsy
was one of the most egregious,
uh, forms of parental abuse you can imagine.
[Gypsy]
and having surgeries,
and tests done,
the Ronald McDonald House became as a second home.
Um, if not, it's our first home,
because we would stay there for months on end.
And I guess it kind of, disguised
the fact that we were homeless.
Gosh, there's so many good memories
that I have of that house.
The staff became more like family to us.
I remember they had this desk in the office,
and I used to sit at this desk.
And the staff would let me make, like, an announcement,
whenever it would be like, dinnertime.
And so, I'd get on the intercom
and be like, "Dinner is now being served
on the second court dining room.
All guests are welcome."
[laughs]
[Gypsy]
[Gypsy laughing]
The staff had actually dubbed me
"The Queen of the Mardi Gras Parade."
I had this beautiful blue dress
and I got to have a crown and a scepter.
It was great.
I felt so safe.
It was probably the best place
that I could have been as a child.
[gloomy music playing]
[crew] Kristine Hooter, take one. Mark.
[Kristine]
When I was in elementary school,
I was a Girl Scout,
and our troop did an "Adopt a Family" program.
And Dee Dee and Gypsy became mine and my mom's family.
[Kristine]
and was not going to live
like, past the age of 10 if she was lucky.
[Gypsy]
"With your cancer,
you only have about two more years."
And then when two years would come up...
she would tell everybody and me,
"It's a miracle you've lived this long."
[gloomy music playing]
[Kristine]
And Gypsy's love for Disney princesses
I feel like, came up
a hundred percent of the time I spent with her.
Looking back now, that makes a lot of sense.
'Cause all the princesses are living their best life,
which, I would imagine
is just what she wanted the whole time.
[Gypsy]
my mother would guilt-trip me.
"I thought I was your best friend."
And she would make me,
in a sense, push them away myself.