Gypsy Rose Blanchard Sues True Crime Content Creator For Defamation

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is heading back to court — but this time, someone else is in the hot seat.

The internet personality, who rose to fame for assisting in the brutal murder of her abusive mother, is suing producer and true crime content creator April Johns — otherwise known as Franchesca “Fancy” Macelli — for fraud, breach of contract, defamation, unjust enrichment and false light.

In 2015, Gypsy aided her then-boyfriend Nick Godejohn in killing her mother, Dee Dee, in an effort to escape a lifetime of abuse. Dee Dee, who suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, infamously feigned Gypsy’s ailments, subjecting her daughter to countless painful and unnecessary surgeries all while making the world think she was chronically ill. Gypsy was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in the murder, though she was released early in December 2023.

According to documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Macelli promised to “produce media projects on Gypsy’s behalf” that would make the Blanchard family money via her production company, Mad Ginger Entertainment. Gypsy ultimately signed a life rights agreement in 2017, one year after she was sentenced to a decade behind bars, providing Macelli with years of interviews and personal documents — including her private medical records and photos of the crime scene.

However, the Blanchard family opted against renewing their contract with Macelli in 2019 after the producer allegedly failed to “secure any media projects or produce any marketable content.” They also claim that she became “confrontational” over Blanchard’s relationship with then-fiancé Ken Urker, whom she has since reconnected with.

Gypsy and her family are now accusing Macelli of continuing to speak negatively about them on her various social media accounts, claiming that her content became “more pointed and caustic” after Gypsy was granted parole last fall. The family is even alleging that Macelli has posted some of the confidential information Gypsy provided her amid their partnership.

The suit also quotes several statements Macelli made ahead of Gypsy’s release from prison, including one in which she said, “I’m so sick of Gypsy… Like I honestly want to bury her so far down a rabbit hole and I think if I dig enough I could make her look so fucking bad.” In another, Macelli doubted that Gypsy’s mother suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Despite Blanchard’s lawyers warning Macelli against making defamatory statements in February of this year, the blogger continued to call Gypsy a “dangerous frickin person” on YouTube and claimed she’d be able to “bury that bitch” if she looked close enough at her case, per Rolling Stone.

The family is seeking an emergency restraining to stop Macelli from speaking about them, along with unspecified damages.

Investigative blogger Katie Paulson previously described Macelli as a “con artist that poses as a blogger, writer, film producer and true crime expert.” She also reported that Macelli has allegedly been arrested multiple times for misdemeanor theft and fraud charges and has a history of “scamming and posing as producers, directors and writers despite no professional credits.”