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O/T - The Act & Munchausen syndrome by proxy

futurestepmomnowstepgf's picture

I just finished watching The Act on Hulu that is based off Gypsy Rose and her mother, primarily about her mother having Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Let me start off by saying if you have not watched it, then you should watch it. It does warn that some of the characters are fictionalized and events dramaticized, but regardless, is just so sad by how much a mother (or really any parent, mom or dad), can manipulate their child. I won't give anything away because there were details in this that I looked up that are true, but I didn't know before watching. 

The only thing that I really REALLY did not like was this one part, sorry going to give only this away, that Gypsy describes her mother as her "wicked stepmother" while role playing with her bf online ... don't know if this truly happened or if the writers just threw that in there, but why oh why is it necessary to mention anything about a stepmom while talking about her actual mom and of course like other shows and movies, the stepmom is "wicked." So that is about my only major bone to pick with the show because I think it was uneccessary, plus does not help SM's with their reputation when media keeps refering to stepparents as "wicked."

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CLove's picture

Yes, Ive researched this a bit, because Toxic Troll likes taking her eldest to the ER, when I first started this. Gas bubbles? It must be a tumor! Nope, gas bubbles. Throwing up? Must go to ER! Oh, yeah, she took my medication for her anxiety and I am over 200 lbs and she is 130 lbs...

The list goes on. Now, Munchkin SD14 sees things fairly clearly and at a young age would tell me that her mother "made her sister sick". 

So, now I cringe when Munchkin tells me that her doctor has prescribed her medication for her"diagnosed migrains".

She does get headaches. Munchkin is obese. Migrains and health issues are linked to obesity.

futurestepmomnowstepgf's picture

That's horrible! One thing I read when I was looking up how much was accurate after watching The Act was that in all the medical records, they all showed that Gypsy never spoke once at the doctors, it was ALWAYS her mom speaking for her.
 

meanwhile my mom, sometimes I had to be like Mom, "it really DOES hurt" I'm not being dramatic. My mom did not neglect me or not take me or whatever, but there were times she would think I was just being a kid and I really wasn't. I'm also a bit of a medical mess, not in a cancerous way or anything like that, but I have had arthritis for years and I have the B12 level of an 80 year old woman or a vegan (which I'm not, I love eating meat) hahaha. I think as parents it is a fine line sometimes because you don't want to coddle so they can never deal with a paper cut, but you also don't want to not take them to the doctor when they need to go. 
 

at least she's aware of her mom's attempt to make things up medically or to influence that type of behavior on her

advice.only2's picture

I found it sad that during the trial is when Gypsy found out there wasn't anything wrong with her physically. She didn't know she wasn't that sick or dying until during the trial and they had to tell her there was nothing wrong with her. Also you can look up the mom's facebook page because it's a legacy page, pretty sad and creepy.

futurestepmomnowstepgf's picture

Yes that is so sad! Like all this time she believed since her mom loved her that she would never of made it all up. Just blows my mind it was never discovered before her mom was killed, but like I said she was a mass manipulator and she was pretty damn smart to pull it all off, she had to be