Ryan Anderson says he was in shock when he learned that Ken Urker had died.
Anderson, who was married to Gypsy Rose Blanchard from July 2022 until her divorce filing in December 2023, addressed Urker’s passing during an appearance on The Sarah Fraser Show. He and Urker, 34, had never met face-to-face, though they had exchanged phone calls and text messages that Anderson described as not positive. Still, the news hit him hard. “I didn’t believe it at first. I was like no,” he said on the podcast. “My initial thought was shock, like, ‘Hmm, how’d that happen?'”
His thoughts quickly turned to Blanchard, 35, and the couple’s daughter, Aurora Raina Urker. Anderson said he reached out to Blanchard’s father, Rod, to offer condolences and pass along a message. “I would be there for her strictly as just being there for her because I always was,” he shared. He added that he told Rod he’s “there for Gypsy if she needs me.”
Urker was found dead at his home in Raceland, Louisiana, on Thursday evening, October 1. Deputies with the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the property at approximately 6:18 p.m., according to an official incident report. The Lafourche Parish Coroner later confirmed that an autopsy had been completed but no definitive cause of death had been determined, with toxicology results still pending. The sheriff’s office has stated that investigators “have discovered no signs of foul play” so far.
Blanchard and Urker’s romantic history stretched back to 2017, with an on-again, off-again pattern that saw her marry Anderson during one of their breaks. She reconnected with Urker in April 2024, and by July of that year the couple announced they were expecting a child together. Their daughter Aurora was born earlier this year.
In the wake of Urker’s death, Blanchard has spoken out through multiple channels. She released a statement in which she described her grief in raw terms. “I have screamed until my throat burns,” she said. She went on to describe Urker as “an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved,” adding, “He will forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance, and even death can never erase.” Regarding their daughter, Blanchard said she will make sure Aurora “grows up knowing how deeply her father loved her and who he was beyond what strangers on the internet chose to say about him.”
Blanchard also took to Instagram to share her tribute publicly, posting a collection of photos and videos of the couple alongside their daughter. “You will always be my greatest love story. You will be remembered and loved forever,” she captioned the post.
Multiple outlets have reported that Urker made comments about being upset and depressed in the hours before his death. Blanchard said that Urker died from an overdose, though official confirmation awaits the pending toxicology report.
Anderson and Blanchard’s own relationship began while she was still serving prison time for her role in the 2015 killing of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, a case that drew national attention due to years of abuse Gypsy had suffered under her mother’s care. The couple married in a prison ceremony in July 2022, but the marriage crumbled less than four months after Blanchard’s release from prison in December 2023, when she filed for divorce. She and Anderson had no children together.
Anderson, speaking on the podcast, made clear that despite their difficult history and his strained indirect contact with Urker, he felt genuine sorrow at the news. “But you still hate to hear that somebody passed away,” he said.
Blanchard’s father Rod has not publicly commented on Anderson’s outreach.