Gypsy Rose Blanchard is mourning her fiancé Ken Urker after he was found dead on his birthday in what she has described as an overdose.
Blanchard, 35, said that Urker died Thursday at his home in Raceland, Louisiana. A family member discovered him unresponsive in his bed after Blanchard had sent him a “happy birthday” text that went unanswered, according to her account to the outlet.
The “Life After Lockup” star delivered an anguished statement about the loss. “I’m in disbelief. I can’t think. I’ve screamed until my throat burns,” she wrote. Blanchard called Urker her “forever soulmate” and claimed he died of an overdose, though she added uncertainty about intent: “I don’t know if it was intentional or not. He was not in a good state of mind lately.”
Blanchard also pointed to online cruelty as a factor in his final days. She said Urker had been the target of “relentless” cyberbullying and urged the public to remember “there is a real person behind every screen, every headline, and every comment.”
The couple’s path to reunion had been lengthy and unconventional. They first connected in 2017 while Blanchard was serving a prison sentence for second-degree murder in the 2015 killing of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. Urker had watched the documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest,” which detailed the severe abuse Gypsy Rose suffered at her mother’s hands, and decided to reach out.
He proposed during a 2018 prison visit, but the engagement ended the following year. Blanchard went on to marry Ryan Scott Anderson in July 2022, a union that lasted until their 2024 divorce. She and Urker rekindled their relationship after that split.
In December 2024, Blanchard and Urker welcomed their daughter, Aurora, now 1 year old. Blanchard described the pregnancy as “unexpected.”
Just months before Urker’s death, Blanchard had spoken optimistically about their future together. In March 2025, she confirmed that she “absolutely” believed the relationship would endure. “I’ve always felt that way about him,” she gushed at the time.
She also detailed their efforts to strengthen their bond through professional help. “You don’t want to go to your family all the time to talk about the bad stuff,” Blanchard explained. “You don’t want their opinions to be changed or affected or a bias or anything.”
She continued, “It’s nice for us to have someone in the middle. They can see my side, they can see his side and give us an honest opinion.”
Blanchard told the outlet that this second chapter with Urker offered a fuller picture of who they had become. “When we first met, we were both young. We were in our mid-20s, so we grew up,” she shared. “Learning each other is almost like dating a new partner, but then it’s the old partner too.”
The pair had sought what Blanchard termed an “unbiased opinion” on their dynamic, working with a therapist to navigate their renewed connection.
Blanchard’s own notoriety stems from one of the most bizarre true-crime cases of the past decade. She spent years as a prisoner of her mother’s Munchausen syndrome by proxy, subjected to unnecessary medical procedures and confined to a wheelchair despite being physically healthy. The abuse ended only when she convinced her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to kill Dee Dee in 2015. Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and served most of a 10-year sentence before her 2023 parole.
She has since built a career in reality television and public advocacy, documenting her post-prison life on “Life After Lockup” and speaking about the effects of abuse and incarceration.
Blanchard has not indicated any public plans for memorial services or future appearances.