Gypsy Rose Blanchard's estranged husband Ryan Scott Anderson has revealed that he was completed blindsided by their sudden split, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Blanchard announced her separation from Anderson last week, just three months after she was released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri.
She had served eight years behind bars for conspiring with then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to kill her mother Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard following years of abuse.
This week, Blanchard was spotted getting matching tattoos and holding hands with her former fiancé Ken Urker, although the pair insisted that they were keeping things platonic and "hanging out as friends."
Anderson has since spoken out about the split and Blanchard's reunion with Urker, telling the Daily Mailthat he is "not doing well with it."
"For me it just came out of the blue. I had no idea she still had such strong feelings for him," he explained.
"I haven't spoken to her, so I just don't know what's going on," he added. "I'm at a loss. I'm really not doing well at all."
The estranged couple first met when Anderson, a special education teacher from Louisiana, wrote Blanchard a letter in 2020. They later married in a jailhouse ceremony in July 2022.
Blanchard announced that they were separating in a post on her private Facebook page on March 29.
"People have been asking what is going on in my life. Unfortunately my husband and I are going through a separation and I moved in with my parents home down the bayou," she wrote. "I have the support of my family and friends to help guide me through this. I am learning to listen to my heart. Right now I need time to let myself find who I am."
Neither she nor Ryan have filed for divorce, but their relationship is officially over. One family member told the Daily Mail, "I don't know if either of them has spoken to divorce attorneys, but the split is real. It's done."
Although some of Blanchard's friends and family were concerned about Anderson's motives after learning that he reached out to her on a dare — when one of his co-workers wanted to write to Tiger King star Joe Exotic, Anderson said, "If you write to him, I'll write to Gypsy Rose Blanchard" — the same source told the Daily Mail that Anderson went into the relationship "with the best of intentions."
"He really loves her. Ryan's a really good guy. You won't get better than Ryan. But she's scarred by all that has happened to her," the relative continued.
"We thought Gypsy was doing okay but she's not. Ryan's having counseling and I know she's court mandated to do it but it's like there's forces inside Gypsy pulling against her."
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Other sources, however, claimed that Blanchard felt "suffocated" when Anderson became overly jealous of her relationship with her father, Rod Blanchard, whom Gypsy was eager to reconnect with after her release.
Blanchard's close friend and tattoo artist Nadiya Vizier alleged to PEOPLEthat Anderson "got in [Blanchard's] face and screamed" at her recently after she locked herself in a bathroom during a fight.
"Gypsy said that she was afraid he was going to hit her. He didn't — but that happened in the past with her mother," Vizier said. "So, her first instinct was to tighten up and be prepared. But she got to safety and called her lawyer, too. Ryan is a big guy, and she told me it was really scary."
"But I'm glad Gypsy got out of this situation. She's such a good person. I'm glad she called somebody and got help that night ... There are so many rumors about her out there. I had to finally speak up. I want people to know she didn't leave Ryan for Ken. She left him because she wasn't happy anymore."
Vizier added that Blanchard and Urker have a "strong bond" and "had a really good time" together this week.
"I think she's looking for her happily ever after. I don't know if she realizes it's hard to find Prince Charming, but she deserves it," she said. "Ken makes her feel happy right now, even as friends. That's what we all want for her — to enjoy her life."