Gypsy Rose Blanchard's partner Ken Urker dead at 34 - USA Today
Gypsy Rose Blanchard's partner, Ken Urker, has died. He passed away on his 34th birthday.
Blanchard confirmed Urker's death in a statement to TMZ late Thursday, Oct. 2, which she also shared on her Instagram storyย Friday morning. The outlet was first to report his death.
"Ken was an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved," she said, adding he "will forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance, and even death can never erase."
USA TODAY has reached out to Blanchard's representatives for comment.
Blanchard told People magazine Urker died in his bed at his home in Louisiana from an overdose. "I don't know if it was intentional or not," Blanchard said. "He was not in a good state of mind lately."
In her statement, she said Urker dealt with an "unimaginable level of public scrutiny" and "relentless cyberbullying" on social media, which had a "profound impact" on him.
The "cruelty directed toward him was something no human being should have to endure," she continued.
The couple welcomed their daughter Aurora Raina Urker in December 2024. Blanchard committed to ensuring Aurora knows "how deeply her father loved her and who he was beyond what strangers on the internet chose to say about him."
Urker and Blanchard met as prison pen pals during the "My Time to Stand" author's nearly eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder related to her role in the 2015 death of her mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard. She was released in December 2023 on parole, which she completed in June 2025.
Urker first proposed to Blanchard in October 2018 but called off their engagement before reuniting in August 2019 and later reconciling, according to People.
The two later broke up again and Blanchard went on to marry Ryan Scott Anderson in July 2022 at the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri during her sentence. Blanchard and Anderson split in March 2024 and finalized their divorce in December 2024.
Following her separation from Anderson, Blanchard rekindled her romance with Urker in April 2024.
"I have been in love with Ken since the day we first met," she told People in an September 2025 interview. "We have been through more than most couples have and have had challenges that would break many couples, but we still stand strong, and I donโt ever see that changing."
Blanchard rose to fame from her highly publicized murder trial. In 2016, then 24-year-old Blanchard plead guilty to conspiring with boyfriend Nick Godejohn, who fatally stabbed Dee Dee on June 9, 2015.
The murder followed years of Dee forcing Blanchard, a victim of Munchausen by proxy, to use a wheelchair and undergo intense unneeded medical treatments to reinforce a fabricated leukemia diagnosis.
The events led to HBOโs 2017 documentary "Mommy Dead and Dearest" and Huluโs 2019 limited drama series "The Act" starring Joey King and Patricia Arquette.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental and/or substance use disorders, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's free and confidential treatment referral and information service at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). It's available 24/7 in English and Spanish (TTY: 1-800-487-4889).
