Per Buzzfeed, Dee Dee began telling people her daughter was sick when she was mere months old.
The name Munchausen syndrome was first coined in 1951 by a British doctor who referenced Baron Munchausen, a historical figure known for telling outlandish tales of his exploits. It was learned after Dee Dee’s murder that Gypsy suffered from was a form of abuse called Munchausen by proxy, in which a person thrives on the attention they get for being a caregiver to a chronically-ill person, intentionally making them sick by various means in order to continue receiving the desired attention.
Rather, Dee Dee artificially created symptoms to mimic the illnesses she was telling doctors Gypsy was sick with. In reality, Gypsy was never born with these illnesses.
