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Gypsy Rose’s Former Boyfriend Nick Godejohn Opens Up About His Childhood
Nicholas Godejohn says he was lonely and isolated as a child.
You have probably heard and watched at least one depiction of Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s tragic childhood, now the subject of several TV shows and documentaries. Once thought of as a sick girl, it was soon revealed that her mother Dee Dee Blanchard merely just pretended she was. She forced young Gypsy to use a wheelchair, endure multiple surgeries and consume unneeded medications — a condition often referred to as Munchausen by proxy.
The scam, which allowed Dee Dee to receive financial donations and free trips, came to a homicidal halt when she was stabbed to death by Gypsy’s online boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn in 2015 upon Gypsy’s request. Godejohn was sentenced in February 2019 to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder. Gypsy Rose, meanwhile, was sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder for her role in the attack.
Want to know more about the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case? Watch a special episode of "Killer Couples," available now on Oxygen.com.
Since their imprisonment, Gypsy has done several media interviews while Godejohn has remained quiet. He never gave his side of the story and only his recent history trickled into the spotlight, such as his 2013 arrest at McDonald's in 2013 after he was allegedly caught masturbating for a whopping nine hours while watching porn, according to Patch in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Customers complained that he was fondling himself during the lengthy porn-watching session, although Godejohn claimed he was just scratching himself.
Of course, there is much more to his story than that.
Godejohn has broken his silence about his past and the loneliness he suffered leading up to the murder in “Killer Couples: Gypsy Rose & Nick: A Love to Kill For.”
His parents’ divorce
Godejohn revealed on “Killer Couples” that his parents split up when he was around 3 or 4.
“From that time forward, I was different from everyone else,” he said.
His mother raised him from the divorce until the age of 15.
His autism diagnosis
Godejohn was diagnosed with autism in grade school, according to his father Bobby Godejohn.
“From the very first day when I was in kindergarten all the way to twelfth grade, every single one of those days I was in special education,” Nick said. He went on to say “the weird thing, though, is that even though I was in special education throughout that entire time, I was considered one of the smartest children in the classrooms that I was in, just because of my high-functioning autism, Asperger syndrome.”
Psychologist Kent Franks testified at a 2016 hearing that he has more the mind of a child than an adult, according to a 2016 report by KY3 in Springfield, Missouri. He said that after two mental evaluations on Godejohn, he determined that the killer is on the autism spectrum with an IQ of 82 and the functionality equivalent to that of a 10-year-old.
Loneliness
“What was life like for me before I met Gypsy? I actually was basically alone,” Godejohn told the producers of “Killer Couples.”
His childhood was lonely.
“It was hard for him to make friends,” his dad said on “Killer Couples.” “He was always by himself, pretty much grew up by himself. He had friends, not many. One or two but mainly family, we’re his friends.”
But, perhaps, his young adulthood was even more isolating.
He said he was interested in computers and wanted to become a computer repairman. But, it didn’t pan out.
“I tried to get into computer programming but they weren’t too happy with how long I was taking to grasp it all,” he said. “Ever since then I wasn’t able to really pursue any other paths of any type of careers.”
Godejohn became further isolated.
“I kept to myself,” he said. “The reason I kept to myself is because I didn’t really have the social skills due to my mental disability.”
Connected online
He found comfort and connection online.
“Nick, he was lonely,’ Bobby Godejohn said of his son. “He loved the internet because he was able to connect with people. He could be himself on the internet.”
Nick referred to himself as a recluse before he met Gypsy.
Leigh Moody, an anchor for KSPR told “Killer Couples” that he was “going nowhere” in his life before he found Gypsy on a Christian dating site.
"He wasn't in school,” she said. “He wasn't working. his only outlet was who he found online and who he found was Gypsy."
Dr. Marc Feldman, a psychiatrist featured on "Killer Couples" told Oxygen digital correspondent Stephanie Gomulka that the internet "gives a lot of people, not just Nick and not just people with autism or other mental health issues, an opportunity to expand and play with who they are and Gypsy did that."
In Nick and Gypsy’s case, their connection became deadly.
