Gypsy Rose Blanchard revealed one of the most painful and unnecessary surgeries she underwent while enduring the abuse from her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.
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Gypsy Rose explained to PEOPLE that she had surgery “to remove two salivary glands” from behind her neck and didn’t respond well to the anesthesia. The 32-year-old newly freed woman said the recovery process was complicated. For much of her life, she underwent many unnecessary medical procedures when Dee Dee made her believe that she had different illnesses.
“To this day, it has left me with the side effects of having to clear my throat all the time. So I’m always, if you hear me, that is a constant thing that I’ve had ever since,” Gypsy Rose continued. She says the constant clearing of her throat annoys some people, although it is not done intentionally.
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“So it’s been a negative side effect for me. And the reason why I had that surgery is because my mother had put [Orajel] on my gums to make me drool at the appointment and complain to the doctor that [I drool] too much.”
Gypsy further explained that she tried to ask Dee Dee about the procedures, which resulted in her mother using manipulative tactics to make her feel unloved.
“She would get really, really upset with me and start manipulating me in a way that she would take her love from me,”
In a previous interview, Gypsy Rose expressed regret over her mother’s murder and said she deserved better. “If I had another chance to redo everything, I don’t know if I would go back to when I was a child and tell my aunts and uncles that I’m not sick and mommy makes me sick, or, if I would travel back to just the point of that conversation with Nick and tell him, ‘You know what, I’m going to go tell the police everything.’ I kind of struggle with that,” she explained to the outlet.