Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Gypsy Rose Blanchard Says She Was 19 When She Found Evidence Of Her Mother’s Lies

Did you ever tell your Dad?

No, my mother would tell me such

awful things about my father.

My parents are divorced.

My mother would tell me, "He abandoned us.

"He doesn't want anything to do with you.

"He's happy with his new family now.

"He doesn't love you."

So, I thought why bother going to him when

he won't care.

She started moving further and further away

and the visits became more scarce.

I'd call and say, "Where's Gypsy?"

I'd talk to her and say, "Well she's taking a nap.

"Call back in an hour, I'll have her ready for you."

So I'd call back and she'd be ready there

with all the right answers and the scaring thing.

What she told Gypsy, the consequences she'd have

if she did say anything, ya know?

Pretty soon, I found a couple of bits of paper

in my mom's safe, things that stated

that I was born in 1991, made me question my real age.

I asked her about it, she said that it was a typo.

I had taken those papers and the Medicaid card

that I found with my actual real birthday on it

and I ran away from home.

I didn't get very far 'cause she found me pretty quickly

and took me back home where I was in, ya know, hot trouble.

What happened when you got home?

She smashed my laptop.

How did she smash it?

It was a hammer.

And she told me if I was to contact anybody,

any of her friends and tell them that she'd take

a hammer to my fingers next time.

And then she put a bell on the door

so if I tried to run away again, she could hear it

and she had taken handcuffs and a dog leash

and tie it together and tie me to the bed,

chain me to the bed.

So how long were you tied to the bed?

About two weeks.

I just don't understand how somebody could do this

to their child, their child that they're supposed to

protect and love, not use them as a cash cow

and use them for their own means.

Do you think she loved you?

When I was younger, I thought that.

And then, when I found out the truth, I'm like,

I didn't know this woman at all, did I?

Everything that she ever told me was a lie,

so how can I honestly believe her

whenever she told me she loved me?

She kept you in a wheelchair, she kept you

on a feeding tube, she had you diagnosed with asthma,

hypoventilation, epilepsy, hearing and vision impairment,

GI reflux, muscular dystrophy, quadriplegia,

mild mental retardation that she called it,

anemia, allergies, leukemia, incontinence,

lung disease, heart disease, heart murmur,

all of these things.

They had you on pages and pages of medications,

many of which have side effects that mimic the diseases

that she said you had.

You were being set up.

Right.

Why would she do that to you?