If youve been following The Act, Hulus new addictive show based on the true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother Dee Dee, youve likely been wondering which characters are based on real people, and how accurately theyre portrayed. One character in particular whos getting more involved in the story, Lacey (Gypsy Roses neighbor), is totally a part of the true story.
A little background: Gypsy Rose Blanchard (played by Joey King), is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for helping her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn , murder her mother Dee Dee (played by Patricia Arquette). The murder came after Gypsy Rose suffered years of abuse from her mom, which The Act chronicles. Dee Dee suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy , which led her to pretend that Gypsy was physically and mentally disabled and extremely ill (though she as actually healthy) in order to get attention and sympathy and be viewed as a hero in the community. Lacey (played by AnnaSophia Robb) was a member of that community. She and Gypsy were neighbors who became fast friends once the Blanchards moved into the same cul-de-sac.
Laceys character is based off of Aleah Woodmansee, who is a big part of the investigative Buzzfeed article that much of The Act is based on. She was one of the only people who knew many of the secrets of Gypsy Roses life, though she still wasnt privy to the fact that Gypsy wasnt sick.
A lot of Gypsy's and Woodmansees communication happened through a secret Facebook account that Gypsy created under the name Emma Rose. Dee Dee wouldnt allow her to have her own account, so she made one secretly to talk to Aleah and boys she met online.
In a 20/20 interview in 2018, Woodmansee said that Gypsy really just wanted to be like any other teenage girl. She would show interest in like different boys and try to ask me advice on like, you know, How do you approach them? How do you like kiss a boy? Woodmansee said. Gypsy eventually told Woodmansee about Godejohn, who shed met on ChristianSingles.com. Woodmansee was the only other person who knew about Gypsy's secret boyfriend. She knew that they had planned to meet in person at a movie theater, and that he was six years older.
Woodmansee knew from the jump that the relationship was too good to be true-Gypsy was describing how they were going to run away together, get married and start a family. She'd already planned the wedding and their future children's names. It was like some kind of magnificent fairy tale was unfolding, she said in the Buzzfeed article.
But slowly, the girls grew apart-Dee Dee made it incredibly difficult for them to be friends. Her mom was very set on Gypsy having the mentality of a 7-year-old and didn't appreciate me talking to Gypsy like someone my age, Woodmansee told ABC. Gypsy was also being fed lies from Dee Dee about Woodmansee in order to push them apart. I couldnt trust Aleah because my mother was starting to put things in my head that Aleah wasnt my true friend and that she was a bad influence on me, so I couldnt be friends with her anymore, Gypsy said in the special " Gypsy's Revenge ."
Luckily, Woodmansee still remembered Gypsy's relationship with Godejohn when she discovered that Dee Dee had been murdered, and she informed the police about him, as she does in The Act, too.
After Woodmansee learned that Gypsy had been abused and basically held captive by Dee Dee before the murder, she chose to support her friend throughout her trial and sentence. She attended every preliminary hearing after Gypsys arrest, telling Fox 5 News , I always wanted to keep supporting her because I know she didnt just do this for no reason and just because shes an evil person.
Speaking with Ozarks First , Woodmansee said, "Obviously there's more to it than anybody ever knew and so I believe that everybody deserves some kind of support whether or not they agree with what they did. She feels Gypsy seems more mature and has grown a lot since being in prison. You can see Woodmansee talking to Fox News 5 in the video below.
Woodmansee has also spoken out about how she feels shes portrayed in the show, and shes not a fan. She told In Touch that the Missourian accent Robb uses gives her character too much of a hillbilly vibe, and that many of the scenes are totally fictional. [The show] apparently depicts me smoking with Gypsy? That never happened. Alcohol and smoking were things we never discussed. Literally the most risqu topics we even touched on were boys, and at the time I believed she was no older than the age of 15, so we can all assume that remained pretty tame.
Woodmansee also said that though she does have tattoos, the stick-n-poke tattoo scene in her room never happened. Ive worked hard on maintaining a respectable image during and after the case, [and] I really dont appreciate that being undone by the carelessness of people who prefer drama over respect.
The latest episode of "The Act" airs Wednesday at 3 a.m. EST.