Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s Boyfriend Ken Urker Dead at 33

The pair got engaged while she was behind bars, but they broke up in 2019 to focus on “personal growth,” she told E!, adding, “We were so connected at one time that I felt like he was a soul mate.”

Blanchard went on to marry Ryan Anderson, a special education teacher from Louisiana, after similarly meeting him through prison correspondence in 2020.

“We’ve been able to build this emotional bond that within two seconds of talking on the phone, he knows my emotions,” she told People. “And he’ll be like, ‘Are you OK? Do you want to talk about it?’ So I’m thankful that I have a man that is open enough with his own emotions so I could let my emotions flow.”

She married Anderson in 2022 while she was still incarcerated.

Blanchard—who was portrayed by actress Joey King in the acclaimed miniseries The Act—was ultimately released from prison in December 2023 after serving seven years, but by March 2024, the couple had cut ties.

“Unfortunately my husband and I are going through a separation and I moved in with my parents home down the bayou. I have the support of my family and friends to help guide me through this,” she shared on Facebook at the time. “I am learning to listen to my heart.”

As for Anderson, he attributed their divorce to “outside influences.”

“I’m still trying to figure out, how did it happen so fast?” he told E!. “I’m blindsided about how fast things occur. It’s like a snowball and I haven’t been able to stop it. It’s just one of those where it’s gonna continue to roll.”

Less than a week after sharing news of the split, Blanchard reunited with Urker in Louisiana, and it was like no time had passed.

“When did I know he was the one?” she told E! in May 2024. “Probably the day I met him back in 2017.”

Noting the pair had “kept a friendship this whole time,” she explained, “It wasn’t until I filed for divorce that I kind of really realized that that spark, that connection [with Urker] is even better than I expected. And we’ve grown a lot. I’ve matured. He’s grown. And so I think right now is the time in our lives that it’s the right time, right place, right everything.”

The couple went on to reveal her pregnancy two months later. 

“We’re both very excited. This was not planned at all, it was completely unexpected,” she shared on YouTube. “We’re both very excited to take on this new journey of parenthood.”

Urker announced the arrival of their daughter Aurora in December 2024, calling her the “greatest gift of all.”

Read on for a look back at Blanchard’s life with Urker before his death.