HBO Documentary Films will present the true crime documentary MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST, the tragic, headline-grabbing story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard, in March 2017, it was announced today.
In MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST, provocative documentarian Erin Lee Carr (HBO’s “Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop”) again explores a crime in the age of social media. Things are not always as they appear, especially in the case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose, and what starts out as a grisly tale of matricide morphs into a rabbit hole of deception. Child abuse, mental illness and forbidden love converge in this mystery of a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.
“I am thrilled to be back at home with the team at HBO to bring this incredibly complex case and tragic story to audiences,” says Erin Lee Carr.
Dee Dee Blanchard and her ailing, wheelchair-bound daughter, Gypsy Rose, were beloved members of Springfield, Mo., but the tight-knit community was rocked when Dee Dee was found murdered in her home, and Gypsy was missing. Investigators tracked a graphic Facebook status stating, “that Bitch is Dead,” to Wisconsin. What unraveled next was a disturbing sequence of events that nobody saw coming.
Featuring exclusive prison access to Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the HBO Documentary Films presentation is a disturbing, first-hand look at this bizarre case and explores one of psychology’s most controversial conditions: Munchausen by proxy syndrome.
MOMMY DEAD AND DEAREST was directed and produced by Erin Lee Carr; produced by Andrew Rossi; co-producers, Alison Byrne and Andrew Coffman; editor, Andrew Coffman; director of photography, Bryan Sarkinen; music, Ian Hultquist. For HBO: senior producer, Sara Bernstein; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
