Gypsy-Rose Blanchard Says She The Happiest She’s Ever Been After Filing For Divorce: ‘Everyone Should Follow Their Heart’

Gypsy-Rose Blanchard is opening up about her love life after filing for divorce from her estranged husband Ryan Anderson.

Blanchard, 32, spoke about Anderson, 37, in a Q&A on her YouTube channel. The Munchausen by proxy victim explained in her Thursday, June 27 video that when she filed for divorce from Anderson, she was following her heart.

Blanchard announced her separation from her husband on March 28, three months after her early prison release. In the days after her separation, she was spotted with her ex-fiancé Ken Urker. Then, on April 11, she filed a temporary restraining order against Anderson.

In the first half of her Q&A, Blanchard was asked what was the first thing she did that helped her gain her independence and made her feel happiest.

“I know it's gonna sound a really cheesy answer, but the truth is when I divorced Ryan, and filed for divorce and I followed my heart to true love,” she began. 

“I felt like I made that choice. I was a free woman. I made that choice as an independent woman,” she continued. “And I think everyone should follow their heart if they know what they want in life and they know what's going to make them happy. I absolutely feel like no matter what you should go for it.”

Blanchard added, “Life is too dang short to be sad or feel trapped by anything in your life.” She noted that she was in a marriage that she “wasn't happy with,” revealing that she knew her “heart was elsewhere,” and she chose to “follow that.”

“I'm happy,” she added. “I'm very happy. You know, this is the happiest that I've ever been in my entire life. And I'm not ashamed of that.”

Blanchard and Aderson connected while she was serving a 10-year prison sentence at Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri. She was convicted of second-degree murder for plotting the 2015 killing of her mother, Clauddine “DeeDee” Blanchard, 48, with then-boyfriend Nicholas "Nick" Godejohn — who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2019.

While Blanchard was in prison, she and Anderson developed a relationship. They met in June 2021, and just over a year later, in July 2022, they married in a private jailhouse ceremony. Then, in December 2023, Blanchard was released from prison on parole. 

Blanchard later announced her separation from the Louisiana special education teacher in a statement obtained by PEOPLE from her private Facebook account.

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In May, she exclusively told PEOPLE how “heartbreaking” the separation was. “No one gets married to get a divorce. Processing those emotions has been hard.”

"I think that there is a sense of freedom of following your heart, following what you feel like is right for you," she explained. "In my marriage, I felt like a part of me was lost in it, and so I feel like I found that missing piece of myself that I always felt was lost and now reclaiming that back. I definitely feel a sense of belonging in that space."