Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s Ex-Husband Says He Was Shocked by the Death of Her Former Partner, Ken Urker

Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s ex‑husband has said he was “shocked” by the recent death in Louisiana of her former partner, Ken Urker, and that he would be there for Blanchard and her daughter “if she needs me”.

Ryan Anderson made those remarks during an appearance on The Sarah Fraser Show podcast on Friday, offering a notable reaction to the latest development involving Blanchard. She gained widespread attention after serving time for her role in the murder of her abusive mother.

Urker was found dead inside his Lafourche parish, Louisiana, home on Thursday on his 34th birthday. The local sheriff’s office reported the incident as an apparent drug overdose.

A Lafourche sheriff’s office report said Blanchard’s half‑brother and his wife went to Urker’s home, saw him lying unconscious through an outside window, and called authorities. Deputies entered the residence and found syringes and a spoon “next to a brown powdery substance” in a bathroom, among other items.

Deputies also reported that Urker was dead in a bed next to a nightstand that held a syringe and a handgun.

Anderson told Sarah Fraser on Friday that his first reaction to the news of Urker’s death was disbelief. “I was like, ‘No,’” said Anderson, 40. “My initial thought was shock, like, ‘Hmm, how’d that happen?’ … Shocked that he passed away.”

He added that his immediate concern went to Blanchard, 32, and the one‑year‑old daughter the two had together after Blanchard’s marriage to Anderson.

Anderson acknowledged to Fraser that his phone and text exchanges with Urker “were never good.” Nevertheless, he reached out to Blanchard’s father, Rod, after learning of Urker’s death. “I said … ‘Tell Gypsy I’m sorry,’” Anderson recounted. “Tell her I’m here for her if she needs me.”

Although Anderson said he “was always somebody who could make her laugh when she was sad or give her comfort,” he expressed uncertainty about whether Blanchard would accept his offer to be there for her as a friend “strictly.”

In a social‑media statement on Friday, Blanchard said Urker “endured an unimaginable level of public scrutiny and relentless cyberbullying across social‑media platforms, including TikTok and Reddit” before his death. “The cruelty directed toward him was something no human being should have to endure,” she wrote. “I believe the tremendous weight of that scrutiny and harassment had a profound impact on him, and I hope his passing serves as a reminder that there is a real person behind every screen, every headline, and every comment.”

Separately, in an interview with People published Friday, Blanchard said she did not know whether Urker’s suspected overdose death was intentional.

Despite the death being reported as a drug overdose, a sheriff’s office captain said the case remained under investigation as of Friday. Capt. Brennan Matherne added that investigators had not discovered “any signs of foul play.”

Blanchard spent eight years in prison after being convicted of second‑degree murder in connection with the 2015 stabbing death of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.

Dee Dee Blanchard was found stabbed to death in her home in Springfield, Missouri, in June 2015. Gypsy Rose Blanchard gave her then‑boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, a knife that he used to kill her mother.

Blanchard, who hid in a bathroom during the slaying, pleaded guilty to second‑degree murder. Godejohn, whom Blanchard met online, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Dee Dee Blanchard’s murder attracted widespread attention after it emerged that she had forced Gypsy Rose to pretend she was seriously ill and undergo unnecessary medical procedures.

Blanchard met Urker while serving her sentence. After her release in late December 2023, she said on the We Need to Talk podcast in June that Urker reached out to her from prison after watching the 2017 documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, which chronicled Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee.

Urker proposed in October 2018, but the pair ended their engagement before rekindling their relationship in August 2019. They later broke up again and spent several years apart.

In 2022, while still incarcerated, Blanchard married Anderson. She discussed the marriage on ABC News’ 20/20 in January 2024, shortly after her release, defending her public comments about the intimacy it provided.

Blanchard announced a separation from Anderson about two months after that interview.

Blanchard and Urker reunited in April 2024, and eight months later they welcomed their daughter, Aurora, in late December 2024.

“Ken was an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved,” Blanchard wrote in her social‑media statement Friday. “He will forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance and even death can never erase.”

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