Gypsy-Rose Blanchard claims ex-fiancé Ken Urker’s cause of death on 34th birthday was an overdose

DAILYMAIL • 1h ago

By SAMEER SURI, US SENIOR SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER and BRIAN MARKS, US ASSISTANT SHOWBUSINESS EDITOR and LILLIAN GISSEN, US DEPUTY LIFESTYLE EDITOR 16:20 02 Oct 2026, updated 16:49 02 Oct 2026

Gypsy-Rose Blanchard has expressed the belief that her on-off fiancé Ken Urker’s death this Thursday was the result of an overdose.

‘I don’t know if it was intentional or not. He was not in a good state of mind lately,’ she said. ‘I’m in disbelief. I can’t think. I’ve screamed until my throat burns.’

Blanchard, who shares a one-year-old daughter called Aurora with Urker, claimed he died in bed at his residence in Raceland, Louisiana, via People.

Urker was discovered unresponsive at home on Thursday, October 1, the day he was celebrating his 34th birthday, TMZ reported.

Blanchard’s relationship with Urker began during her seven-year prison sentence for her part in the murder of her abusive mother, Claudine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard.

During this time she started corresponding with Urker and he proposed in 2018 only for them to split months later. Blanchard was released in December 2022 after being granted early parole and in 2024 reunited with Urker.

Urker’s sister Autumn went live on TikTok in the wake of his death and revealed the final words he ever uttered to her were: ‘I love you.’

During the Live, which saw her weeping openly, Autumn did not disclose when her last conversation with her brother took place.

Blanchard, meanwhile, claimed Urker was ‘relentlessly cyberbullied’ before his untimely passing, in a statement provided Thursday to TMZ.

She noted that she texted him on the day of his death to wish him a happy birthday but never received a reply.

‘Ken was an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved,’ she began, adding that Urker would ‘forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance, and even death can never erase.’

Blanchard said that he went through an ‘unimaginable level of public scrutiny’ while being with her and that the ‘cruelty directed toward him was something no human being should have to endure.’

She noted that the online harassment had a ‘profound impact’ on Urker.

Regarding their infant daughter Aurora, Blanchard vowed to ‘make sure she grows up knowing how deeply her father loved her.’

Blanchard said that she would also ensure her daughter knew ‘who [Urker] was beyond what strangers on the internet chose to say about him.’

In a statement to TMZ, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said: ‘We responded to a residence in Raceland today after receiving a call at 6.15pm. Kenan Urker, 34, was found dead upon arrival. At this time, we are continuing the death investigation.’

Family sources told the publication that Urker was discovered at home by Blanchard’s brother, Dylan.

According to People, Dylan and his wife had planned to go out to dinner with Urker before they arrived at his home.

They added that the tragic news had left both Blanchard and Urker’s families in shock.

Urker’s sister, Autumn, reportedly confirmed his death on Thursday night after going live on TikTok.

She said her brother’s last words to her had been, ‘I love you.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Blanchard’s representatives and the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office for comment.

The former couple shared a 21-month-old daughter, Aurora Raina Urker, whom they welcomed on December 28, 2024.

Her birth coincided with the one-year anniversary of Blanchard’s release from prison after she served seven years behind bars for her part in the murder of her abusive mother, Claudine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard.

Blanchard and Urker had an on–off relationship as they got engaged in October 2018 while she was incarcerated, only for them to split months later, before reuniting in August 2019.

After they separated again for several years, she went on to tie the knot with another man, Ryan Scott Anderson, in July 2022, while she was still serving time for killing her mother.

In March 2024, three months after her release, Blanchard announced that she and Anderson had separated, and in April of that year, she and Urker reconciled.

Blanchard was a victim as a child of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, after her mother Dee Dee forced her to pose as an invalid by remaining in a wheelchair at all times in public.

Dee Dee shaved Gypsy-Rose’s head and kept her drugged to convince the world that her daughter had muscular dystrophy and was battling leukemia.

But their warped relationship came to an end in 2015, when Gypsy-Rose’s boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, crept into their home in Springfield, Missouri, and stabbed Dee Dee to death. She was 48.

Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and spent nearly 10 years in prison before being released in December 2022 after being granted an early parole.

While in prison, she bonded with Urker after he sent her a letter, and they started corresponding.

Things soon turned romantic, and he went on to propose in 2018.

But after the Hulu miniseries The Act – which starred Joey King as Gypsy and Patricia Arquette as her mother – premiered a few months later and put an intense spotlight on Gypsy’s story, she admitted in her memoir that Ken couldn’t handle the sudden wave of attention.

After announcing her split from her husband, Ryan Anderson, in March 2024, Blanchard revealed in July of that year that she and her reunited fiancé Urker were expecting a child.

Following their reunion, Urker looked back on how they reconnected while speaking to People.

‘The very first weekend of April [2024] is when I came to visit her for the first time after she had gotten out. We spent that weekend together and had an incredible time,’ he said.

Their renewed connection was strong enough that they made plans to meet again a month later to attend a jazz festival together.

‘Then shortly after that, we realized we were going to have a baby,’ Urker added.

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