All language subtitles for 3_Subtítulos01.ENG

- There was emotional
and physical abuse.

I started to feel like
it was either her or me.

He sent me a text that said,

"Tonight be the night that
we run away together."

I had a blonde wig so no
one would recognize me.

That's when he tells me he
couldn't leave the state.

(tense music)

Once she got me
inside the house,

she chained me to the bed.

We both went into
the men's stall.

It was the first time that
I had ever seen a penis,

other than what happened
with my grandfather.

and I pulled the trigger.

♪ No, you could
never take my soul ♪

(birds chirping)
(tense music)

If I get paroled and it is
the earliest parole date,

it would be at the end of 2023.

It would mean that I can
start living my life.

When I was younger,

my mother told me flat out,

"There are some things
that you will never do."

But a year after release,

I expect myself to
be fully independent

and have my own
place, my own car,

earning my own money.

My mother cooked,
cleaned, did everything.

I did nothing.

And I have this
opinion about myself

that I have to lean on
everybody for support

because I just don't feel
like I could do it on my own

and do it correct.

(phone ringing)

- [Operator] This call is
from a correctional facility

and maybe monitored
and recorded.

- [Gypsy] Hey, can
you hear me okay?

- Yes, how are you?

- [Gypsy] Oh, I'm
doing all right.

How are you?

- I'm good.

- [Gypsy] I've been doing
some self-reflecting

over the last few days

because, I mean, such
a big moment for me,

a pivotal moment in my life.

- When you do get out,

I'm definitely always gonna
be a big part of your life.

But what do you think you're
gonna need from me as a father?

- [Gypsy] My mom had
told me so much crap,

and I don't know what's
the truth and what's a lie.

And we're gonna have to dive
into some hard conversation.

So I just need you to tell me

what's the truth
and what's the lie?

What she told me.

(pensive music)

- I wasn't the best dad.

Should've went and checked.

And I had suspicions.

Man, I'm not trying
to make excuses,

but it was hard not
to believe Dee Dee.

Doctors believed that,

her friends, neighborhood,

everyone believed those lies.

- Since childhood, my
mother lied about my age.

When I thought that I was 15,

I found my Medicaid card,

and it said that
I was actually 19.

At that time, I met this
guy Dan at Visioncon,

and he kept telling me,

"You're an adult and
you could leave."

And so I ran away.

I thought that it was a
possibility that he was the one,

but he doesn't even have a car.

He doesn't even have
a place of his own.

He's staying at
his friend's house.

I'm like, okay,

this is not what
I expected at all.

That night, my mother had awoken

probably about four
o'clock in the morning,

noticed that I wasn't there.

She then goes to look
around the house,

and my cell phone fell
out of my backpack.

So she sees the messages
between me and Dan,

and she instantly
knows who I'm with.

Then she begins to call
their mutual friends

from the convention,

and one of them told
my mother where I was,

and there she was able
to come and find me.

It's about eight
o'clock in the morning.

She arrives in the door,
and at this point,

me and him are sleeping.

His friend was like,
"Your mother is here."

And my heart just
sinks to the ground.

And I see her walk in the door.

And I sit up,

and the first thing
I say to her is,

"I know I'm 19 and I can
be here if I want to."

And she's like,
"Where are my pills?"

I stole her pain medication.

So I give her her pills back.

She's like, "Where's the money?"

I give her the money back that
I stole out of her wallet.

It was about $1,000.

And she's like, "Can
we talk on the porch?"

We go sit on the
porch and she's like,

"If you come back with me,
I will let you see him."

And at that point,
I believed her.

I was completely
dependent on her,

and so I went back with her.

- Of course Gypsy would concede.

After that episode,
and even others

where she tried to get a
little bit of independence

because her utter survival
depended on her mother.

(gentle music)

- On the way back,

I was confronting
her about my age.

I never confronted
her before that point.

And she tried to
convince me otherwise.

And so she stopped at a Staples,

and she had a copy of
my birth certificate.

And she comes out
about 10 minutes later,

and it says 1995.

- [Interviewer] How
did she modify it?

- I'm thinking
Wite-Out. (laughs)

She said, "Here's your
actual birth certificate.

And I'm your mother,
you should trust me.

If you didn't believe
me, now here's proof."

- [Interviewer] Did
you believe her?

- I did believe her, yes.

I wanted her to be
telling the truth

because I still loved her
and she was my mother.

- I think Gypsy had
Stockholm syndrome,

which is the term
that's applied to people

who are kidnapped
and held hostage

where they fall in
love with their captor.

And it's counterintuitive.

And so people tend
to blame the victim.

Well, why did you stay?

But Gypsy loved her mother.

(melancholic music)

- [Gypsy] I never told anyone,

but at one point she
gets a pregnancy test

because she thinks that
I had sex with Dan.

I kept telling her like,

"I'm a virgin. I'm
not pregnant."

And she's like,

"I don't know what
you did with him."

And she told me I can get
pregnant by kissing a guy.

And so I take the
pregnancy test,

and it came back negative.

- There was absolutely
a fear on Dee Dee's part

that she was starting to
lose control of Gypsy,

and also, really, fear

that she would lose the
sickness in her child,

which was her lifeline.

It was her reason to live.

And so she had to
teach Gypsy a lesson.

(somber music)

- Once she got me
inside the house,

she chained me to the bed.

She smashed my computer
and my cell phone,

and I was chained for two weeks.

- [Interviewer] What did she
use to bind you to the bed?

- Handcuffs and a dog leash.

The dog leash was
connected to her,

so anytime that I would move,

she would feel me move.

And if she was asleep,

I would move, she
would wake up.

I was at her mercy
for everything.

So to go to the
bathroom, for food.

As punishment, she would
not feed me every day,

and she would eat
whatever she wanted.

So it was these things
that she would do

that was almost haunting.

- [Interviewer] Did you know
that Dee Dee punished her

by chaining her to
the bed for two weeks?

- Whoa, I didn't know
she, I didn't know

that she had chained her
to the bed for two weeks.

That's all going through my
head now thinking about it,

just, just, I could see,

I could see it taking place.

It's (beep) terrible,
(beep) crazy.

Wow, what a mom.

What a mom.

- I felt enraged.

I was angry because she didn't
have to go through that.

- This is very
clear communication

that when you cross that line,

first of all, you don't
get away with it,

and second of all, next
time, it will be worse.

- She knew the things
that I was afraid of.

She knew the things
that would break me,

and there was no indication an
end was ever going to happen

of this way of life.

(gate buzzing)

- My mother never
laid a hand on me

until my attempt to run away.

Anything that she
found displeasing,

she would hit me.

And it would either
be with a coat hanger,

it would be with her hand.

She would punch my
leg, in the thigh.

- When I think of being
chained up like an animal,

that would be a mark of a
mother who had no conscience,

did not care about what her
daughter thought or felt.

(ominous music)

- For two weeks, I tried
to gain more of her trust,

a lot of begging on my part.

"I promise I won't do
it again. I'll be good.

I will never talk
to Dan again."

To the point where she
believed me enough

to start allowing
me little freedoms

like going to the
bathroom on my own,

taking a bath on my own.

So leaving her sight for
small amounts of time

until she took me off
the chain completely.

After this attempt,

she was very sensitive to
when I would move in the bed.

And she kept a knife
by her bedside table,

and she threatened me that if
I was to attempt to run away,

I would be punished for it.

- Dee Dee was very controlling,
but yet dependent.

And so there's gonna be pretty
harsh punishment and abuse

if she defies her mother.

- After the two weeks
that I was chained,

my mother put a
voodoo hex on me.

She printed out a picture of Dan

and she printed out
a picture of me,

and she went to the store

and got a mason jar
and a cow tongue.

She put the cow tongue
in the mason jar

with the two pictures

and a little bit of
my menstrual blood.

Put it in a mason jar,
buried it in the backyard,

and said that, "You
will never find love.

You will never be happy."

So I think that it's true.

I'm sorry. (sniffles)

I just think it's true

because it's like every
time I get close to someone,

they leave me.

Many men write to me in prison.

That's how I met Ken.

We got engaged in 2019,

but it didn't work out.

I was still such a young girl.

I had so much to learn
about relationships.

(somber music)

And he left me,

and it broke my heart.

And so it's like I always
bring it back to that curse

where I'm like I
believe it's true.

She never wanted me to
find love or be happy,

and I just kind of
feel like that stuck.

(somber music)

- So, Dee Dee was
putting spells on Gypsy.

That's wild,

but it's not so far out of the
bounds of what I would think.

Dee Dee had this wizard that
was tattooed on her leg,

it was on her ankle,

and she would play with magic.

When I was a kid,

I seen Dee Dee playing with
the Ouija board and spells

and playing people over
to get what she wanted,

maybe mind control.

And controlling these doctors

and controlling this
whole world around her

like a puppeteer.

It was probably very
satisfying to her.

- It's almost a scene
out of "Carrie."

Now, Dee Dee is
threatening her daughter

and acting in this
bizarre, wicked fashion.

And certainly, Gypsy
could be haunted

by these seeming like
spells for years.

- At this point,

there was a significant
part of our relationship

that I believe broke.

I'm like, well,

I can just wait 'til she
passes away naturally.

But I didn't know how
long that was gonna be,

and she could have lived
to be 70 years old,

and by that time,

I would be too old to do the
things that I would want,

like have children and
have a life of my own.

So I really started to weigh
out the pros and the cons

and realizing that I needed to
get out of this situation now.

(intense music)

(birds chirping)
(tense music)

- Growing up,

my mother instilled in me
to be mistrusting of people.

And I feel like in prison,

I have to constantly be
on guard and be strong.

And today, the day before
the parole hearing,

I can think about how I
want my demeanor to be.

Do I wanna go in there

like I'm this strong,
big, tough bitch?

Or do I want to show
that I am vulnerable?

Because whenever I was younger,

when I let my guard down,

I got hurt again
and again and again.

After my mother released
me from the chain,

she took every
precaution that she could

to make sure that I had no
attempts to reach anyone

by social media or phone at all.

My mom bought a gun,

and that scared the
ever living F out of me.

I was afraid that
she would kill me.

I wanted to reach out to people,

but I couldn't because I
knew the repercussions.

And you don't know if someone
is gonna help you or not,

or is it gonna go
back to being worse

and my mother doing
something worse to me

than just hitting
me and starving me.

It is an incredibly lonely
and hopeless feeling

to feel like you are trapped.

And that's exactly
how I felt, trapped.

- My name is Bracy Bays.

When I met Dee Dee
and Gypsy Rose,

I was an assistant manager
at the movie theater

in Springfield, Missouri.

I was in charge of promotions.

They were at the
theater quite a bit.

At times, they would
come three times a week.

And I've asked myself
more than one time,

would I have believed Gypsy if
she would've pulled me aside?

And the thing that
people have to understand

is that Dee Dee set it up

that Gypsy was
mentally challenged.

It seemed genuine.

It really seemed for real.

So I don't know if I would have,

and that hurts my heart.

It really does.

Oh, this is one of my
promotional albums,

and it has some of
Gypsy's pictures in it

because of course she
was an integral part

in a lot of our promotions.

This one was for the
Leukemia Society,

and you can see, there's
Gypsy in her wheelchair.

And we did "Over the Rainbow",

and all of the proceeds went
to the Leukemia Society.

At the time, my
sister had leukemia.

And so when Dee Dee said,

"Yes, she has leukemia,"

and so that kinda
struck a chord with me.

And we wanted to do what
we could do for them.

- Dee Dee wanted
everybody to believe

that they were destitute,

that they had nothing.

And the old woe-is-me because
dad was out of the picture.

- I told Dee Dee,

"You're never gonna
be able to work.

You're taking care
of Gypsy 24/7."

I told her,

"I'm gonna give you
everything I can."

I think I was giving her
11 or $1,200 a month.

- We would always
raise money for them.

And Gypsy did actually become

kind of a symbol of hope for us.

- Dee Dee was defrauding
a whole bunch of people.

Dee Dee's ability to
manipulate people was unrivaled

with anything I've ever seen.

- Dee Dee presented
as a chameleon

where people around her

thought she was the
mother of the year,

but did not see the other
part or side of this woman

who was handcuffing her
daughter for weeks at a time.

So I believe that Dee Dee
was perhaps a psychopath.

She had no conscience,

and she would do anything to
keep her daughter under wraps.

(tense music)

(gate buzzing)

- [Gypsy] After that
whole incident happened

with being chained to the bed,

she started telling me that
nobody's ever gonna want me

and that Dan doesn't love me.

And if he loved me so much,
he would come and rescue me,

and he hasn't done that.

And I stopped trying to
communicate with him after that.

I kind of felt like, oh my God,

I am trying everything I can,

every turn, she catches me.

And there's just
no escape from her.

So I decided to run away again.

And I packed my bag and
hid it under the couch.

But one night,

she had a suspicion
and she found my bag.

She was like,

"You were gonna run away
again, weren't you?"

And my heart was pounding,

like a million things
were going through my mind

of how bad this was gonna be.

And I saw her gun on the table.

She normally kept the gun
in the safe in her bedroom,

but she had used it to practice
shooting earlier that week.

And that's when
I grabbed the gun

and I threatened her with it.

And before I knew it,

I pulled the trigger as
many times as I could.

(gunshots)

- If I get the news that
I am being paroled,

I, gosh, I can't even
really put it into words

how I'm going to feel.

It's going to feel like finally,
finally I get to be free.

(tense music)

But the punishment
is having that guilt,

realizing that I can't
undo what I've done,

have it in my heart to
deal with every single day.

When I shot my mother,

I just remember thinking
like, oh my God,

did I just do that?

- [Interviewer] Gypsy tells
a story about picking up

a BB gun and shooting
Dee Dee 10 times with it.

- I don't know about that.

- [Interviewer] You
don't know the story,

she thought she killed her?

- No, there are some things

Gypsy said she wants to
talk to us about in person.

So there's things that
y'all probably know

that we don't know,
but good for her.

(tense music)

- [Gypsy] I had never
stood up to my mother,

and I just kind of
offloaded all of my anger

and my questions,

like why won't you let
me have a normal life?

Why is my life this
way to begin with?

And she just kept reiterating

that she takes good care of me

and I need special care.

At that point in time,
I half believed her.

I couldn't see cancer,

I couldn't see some
of the diagnoses

that she said that I had.

And I started crying
and I told her,

"I'm so sorry. I'm so
sorry I hurt you."

My mom was such a good
master manipulator

that she was able

to slip me right back
into submission again.

- The object of a person
with Munchausen by proxy

is the most important
person in the world to them.

And so when Dee Dee did go
in and get medical care,

the records show that
she lied about it

because she would not risk
anybody connecting the dots.

- [Gypsy] She told people
that me and her were robbed

in the parking lot of Walmart

by this mystery robber that
shot her with the BB gun.

- So Dee Dee kills two
birds with one stone.

No one figured out that
her daughter rebelled.

And then everybody
felt sorry for Dee Dee

because she was held
up and almost killed.

- The world was colluding
with her mother.

Gypsy still had no confidence

that the world would
recognize her situation.

- It really felt like there
was no escaping the situation.

I thought that I would live
forever at home with her.

So I needed to go online again.

Online, I could be the Gypsy
that has all these friends,

the version of myself
that is normal.

There's this fantasy
world that I created.

- I think there's a connection
between the fairytales

and daydreaming and
dissociation and trauma.

Gypsy was in so much pain,

and so many trauma
victims will dissociate

as a way to repress the
trauma they're going through.

- That night, we went to sleep

and she took her sleeping meds
that she takes every night.

And I went to my bedroom

and I started talking with a
neighbor on Facebook about Dan.

She's like, "Oh, well,

you should get on that
online dating website

called
christiandatingforfree.com."

And after looking at a
couple dozen profiles,

I came across a
profile that stood out.

It's silly.

One thing that attracted
me is he plays video games,

like it's special or something.

I sent him a message
that just said,

"Hi, my name is Gypsy."

And he sent me a
message back saying,

"Hi, my name is Nicholas."

And we started communicating
via this website.

And then pretty soon,

I invited him to
friend me on Facebook.

I had different aliases

because she kept finding
my Facebook account.

So Emma Rose was my name.

And it progressed very quickly.

Two weeks after
first communicating,

did we like make it
official on Facebook

that we were in a relationship.

(tense music)

And again, I was in
that mindset that, oh,

this is my knight
in shining armor.

So when one of
his ex-girlfriends

actually messaged
me on Facebook,

I didn't listen to her.

I thought she was a jaded ex.

She told me that he is violent

and that he's verbally
abusive, controlling.

But even though those red flags,

I saw them,

I ignored them

because of this notion that I
had found love at first sight.

(intense music)

(gate buzzing)

- If you would've
asked me years ago,

did I think that getting
hurt was a part of love?

I would've told you no.

But since then,
I have experience

that has taught me that
love could be painful.

First, with Nick,

and then in prison.

The relationship
that I had with Ken,

I was still so naive.

But now I have had time
to reflect on the past.

About six months ago,

I met a man named Ryan.

He is a southern Louisiana boy.

And he's just like,

"I heard your story and I
wanted to get to know you."

And so we've started dating,

but I am taking it slowly.

With Nick, the relationship
was strictly online.

He was living with his mother
in Waukesha, Wisconsin,

and I was living in Springfield,
Missouri with my mother.

So eventually, I stole cash
from my mother's wallet.

And when my mom and I
made a trip to Walmart

and she let me go
to the bathroom,

and I went to the
electronics department

and traded the cash
for a cell phone.

And from then on,

I can text Nick through
Yahoo Messenger.

The dialogue between Nick and I,

it was just fun.

It was about this fantasy world

that he and I created together.

I needed a way out
of my reality.

At that time, whenever I
was at home with my mother,

arguments would occur

anytime that I would get
caught on the computer,

on social media,

if I didn't wanna take
medication that night.

And at this point,

my mother had scheduled more
surgeries, more medication.

I was scheduled for another
procedure to have on my throat.

It was gonna be a surgery

to look into why I have
such a high pitched voice

because it was something to do

that my larynx didn't
close properly.

I have a big fear of tubes

being put down my throat
or my nose or anything.

For all my other procedures,

I was put under
general anesthesia.

And I asked her, I'm like,

"Can you make sure that
they put me to sleep?"

And she's like, "No,
you're old enough now."

I'm terrified at this point.

But Nick was there for me.

I told him that my mother
didn't allow me to have friends,

I told him that I could walk,

and about the abuse.

I told him everything.

And he was telling me
how he would protect me.

- It was sad that she
opened up to Nick,

and I wish she could
have come to me.

But I guess she felt
comfortable enough

that she can open up
to him and trusted him.

- I often told him, I'm like,

"If I lived with you or if
I was just some other girl,

I would be able to visit you.

We would be able
to go on dates.

But I can't because
I'm living this life.

My mother won't let me."

- At this point,

Gypsy has lived in this
toxic bubble with her mother,

and she's starving for
some type of affection.

Anyone with any, just,
sliver of interest in Gypsy,

she would probably rush to.

- I started to realize that
Nick was a little different

after about three months.

There was a certain phrase
that I had to repeat

after every conversation.

And if I didn't say this phrase

the way he had
instructed me to say it,

he would get very
verbally aggressive.

- [Interviewer] What
was the phrase?

- "I love and adore you, my
king charming, goodnight."

(tense music)

But I didn't see
what was happening.

I was still stuck in that
mindset that this is my hero.

And I villainized my
mother, and I wasn't seeing

the connection between
their behaviors.

- Nick and Dee Dee
have a lot in common.

They're manipulative,
aggressive, controlling,

and that's a comfort
zone for Gypsy.

- It was probably a month later,

he said he had a BDSM fetish.

- So, Gypsy, I know
this is in many ways

can be re-traumatizing for you,

but hopefully it's
healing for you as well.

- [Gypsy] Yes, I
think it will be.

- Excellent.

Well, let's talk about the
relationship with Nick.

Did some of this have
sexual components to it?

- [Gypsy] It did.

He was very sexualized
and craved it,

talked about it nonstop.

I had never even heard
of BDSM before I met him.

At first it was very
out of my element,

but then it was exciting
because I was opening a door

to something I had never
experienced before,

and it made me feel empowered.

- Gypsy was
submissive by nature,

so she would certainly be at
risk to gratify her partner

as she always gratified
her mother's wishes.

- I was the perfect
candidate for what he wanted.

It doesn't matter what
he would do to me,

positive or negative,

I would just look at
him with adoring eyes.

But looking back,

I feel like Nick is a
very disturbed person

that lives in his own
created fantasy world.

And he doesn't wanna acknowledge

the difference between
what's right and wrong.

- No matter what, ultimately
I will get released,

but I don't know

if there is a possibility
of a happy ending for me.

And I don't really think

that it's going to be
the Disney fairytale

that I grew up with.

I don't know if I'm
ever gonna find the one.

I don't know if I'm
gonna have kids.

All that I do know is
that what I have right now

is my father and my stepmother,

and that's what I can
count on right now.

- It hurts my heart actually
that she's incarcerated.

She was in one
prison with her mom.

She's in another prison now.

We talk on the phone.

But to see her,

we can't wait to have her home.

- During visitation, you're
only allowed like, a brief hug.

So the first thing I want to
do whenever I get released

is hug my family for
like 10 minutes (laughs)

where a guard isn't like,
"Okay, that's too close,"

or, "That's enough." (laughs)

(tense music)

Every relationship in my life

has been a long
distance relationship.

Nick and I would trade
messages back and forth

for almost three years.

We were trying to
figure out plans

to meet for the first time,

and "Cinderella" was set to
come out in theaters in 2015.

And so the whole setup was
to meet at the movie theater

because where's the one place

that my mother actually
took me out in public

besides the grocery store?

I was allowed to dress
up as "Cinderella."

It was just like
the fantasy world

that he and I created together.

My thought was to have
him meet my mother

and act like we had
never met before,

and she could see what
a wonderful person he is

and that she would let
me start this friendship,

and then this friendship can
turn into a relationship.

(tense music)

That day at the movie theater,

he comes up to us and
starts talking to us

and he makes conversation.

And of course the conversation
that he makes is like,

"So, the weather's
nice (laughs)."

I'm like, looking at him

like, you couldn't come
up with anything better?

And so she was polite
to him at first,

but then she immediately
started to question

why is this guy that's
obviously an adult

at a little girl's
children's movie by himself?

No kids, no
girlfriend, no family.

So as we go to take our seats,

she's got our eyes
dead locked on us.

But we also came
up with this plan

that I was gonna lose
my virginity to him.

So he left the auditorium first.

Then I told my mom, "Can
I go to the bathroom?"

And she let me.

We both went into the
men's handicapped stall.

It was the first time that
I had ever seen a penis,

other than what happened
with my grandfather

and the molestation
when I was nine.

He couldn't get an erection,

but we just called it, okay,
I lost my virginity to him.

And it just kind of felt
like that was weird.

It was kinda shameful.

I was very disappointed because
I built this up in my mind,

and I didn't feel any
closer to Nick than before.

It just kind of felt like,
well, that was disgusting.

And I knew my mother
would be coming soon.

So we left the bathroom.

By the end of the movie,

she storms out of
the auditorium.

So my mother takes me home,

and we instantly get
into an argument.

She says, "You're such a
slut for wanting a boyfriend,

you're a devil spawn.

I should have aborted you
when I had the chance."

And Nick is online.

He's waiting for me, to
know what's going on.

So I messaged him and I'm like,
"My mother did not like you."

He's like, "Okay,
well, what now?"

So that's whenever we start
going into other plans.

(suspenseful music)

I wanted that life that
I was living to be over.

I started to really feel
like it was either her or me.

His alternate
personality's name is Victor,

that he's a 500 year
old vampire, Victor,

and he would kill
my mother for me.

- [Prayer] Dear Lord,
Heavenly Father,

please open the hearts
of the parole panelists.

Give them understanding

to Gypsy's progress
that she's made, Lord.

- [Gypsy] Okay, so I
got my answer today.

- [Interviewee] Gypsy was like,

"Where do you want this
relationship to go now?"

- I have been keeping a secret.