Sigmund Freud has certainly elicited a variety of opinions over the years, but after taking a step back to look at a recent breakdown comparison between Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s parents and her romantic partners, perhaps Freud was right all along.
After Hulu series The Act unveiled a slightly dramatized version of the events in Gypsy Rose’s childhood and young adulthood, interest in Blanchard unsurprisingly skyrocketed as folks were eager to learn more about her jaw-dropping upbringing — which included her being a victim of Munchausen-by-proxy at the hands of her own mother, Dee Dee.
Following Blanchard’s release from prison back in December 2023 and two successful shows on Lifetime, curiosity about the 33-year-old is undoubtedly at an all-time high. That being said, that interest has overwhelmingly carried over on TikTok, where a recent video showcases a striking resemblance between Gypsy Rose’s current partner, Ken, and her father, Rod.
In the aforementioned video, photographs of both Ken and Rod are shown back-to-back as TikToker @brix070 outlines how common it is for people who have suffered psychological trauma to seek out romantic partners that either resemble their parents physically, or have a similar personality.
As intriguing as the connection between Ken and Rod is, other TikTokers additionally created videos comparing between Gypsy Rose’s mother Dee Dee and her soon-to-be-ex-husband Ryan, who many people believe also look similar.
Of course, Freud made this ideology famous by coining the phrase “Oedipus Complex” back in 1910, which explained that people are often attracted to romantic partners who resemble their parents due to those partners representing key figures during their childhood, and providing a space of comfort and familiarity.
Once you’ve seen it, it’s definitely hard to unsee, as many commenters expressed in the replies. Resemblance or not, however, Blanchard is unequivocally a victim of years of psychological abuse, and she deserves to find her happiness in whichever life partner that she sees fit.