Gypsy Rose Blanchard Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby with Boyfriend Ken Urker

Gypsy Rose Blanchard announced she is pregnant on her YouTube channel on Tuesday, July 9

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is going to be a mom.

The Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup star, 32, — who, after years of being subjected to painful medical abuse, played a role in the 2015 killing of her mom Dee Dee — is expecting her first baby with boyfriend Ken Urker, 31.

Blanchard shared the exciting news in a video titled "I'm Pregnant, My Journey So Far" posted on her YouTube channel on Tuesday, July 9. "I know the rumors have been flying around for quite some time now," she explains, "and I'm happy to announce that I am 11 weeks pregnant."

"Ken and I are expecting our very first child come January of 2025," she continues, adding that, "This was not planned at all, it was completely unexpected, but we're both very excited to take on this new journey of parenthood."

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Related: Gypsy-Rose Blanchard Explains How New Romance Blossomed with Former Fiancé Ken Urker: 'He Is My First Love' (Exclusive)

Later in the video, Blanchard addresses some concerns she's heard from her followers. "I know that there are going to be people who feel like I'm not ready to be a mother," she says, "and I don't know if anyone's really ready to be a mother."

She then got emotional about the opportunity of being a loving mother to her child. "All the things that I wanted in a mother, I want to give to this baby," she says while wiping her tears. Blanchard added, "I am a mother now, I am happy, and I just want to be a good mother for my child. I want to be everything my mother wasn't."

In May, the former inmate and Munchausen by proxy victim opened up to PEOPLE about rekindling her romance with Urker. While serving time in prison for her role in the killing of her mother, Blanchard was in a relationship with Urker, who first started as a pen pal.

Urker proposed in 2018 and their relationship then ended years prior to her 2023 prison release. At the time of her release, Blanchard was married to ex Ryan Anderson, whom she married while she was in prison.

"Ken and I reconnected as friends. It wasn't like, jump out of a marriage and then let me meet up with you, and boom, we're in a relationship," she said. "We had kept a friendship for the longest time. He was in a relationship. I was with Ryan, and so we were living different lives with respect to our partners, a 'wish you the best' type of thing."

After her marriage to Anderson fell apart, Blanchard told PEOPLE that Urker is who she turned to. "It wasn't until I knew that my marriage was over that I was like, 'I would like to see you and let's hang out because we never got to hang out before when I was in prison'," she said.

"I would say that Ken is my first love because that's when I honestly felt like a mature love. It wasn't based off of a fantasy. It was actually based on a connection that two people have for each other," added Blanchard.

In May, Blanchard's stepmom Kristy Blanchard told PEOPLE that Urker was moving to Louisiana, where Blanchard lives, to be with her. At the time, Kristy also admitted that she was the one who pushed her stepdaughter to reunite with her former fiancé.

"It's all my fault, and I'll gladly take the blame. I wanted them back together," she told PEOPLE exclusively. "I made that happen. Put the heat on me."

"Gypsy will finally get her happily ever after," she continued. "Ken's moving to New Orleans to be with her soon. He found a place. Gypsy is so excited to have him closer. A love like theirs comes once in a lifetime."

Speaking with PEOPLE in December 2023, Blanchard discussed how she'd have to explain to her future kids about her time in prison, noting that she knew it'd be a "hard conversation."

"We're in love," said Blanchard, who was still with Anderson at the time. But also, "It's hard because I'm going into a new life and I'm newly married, and I'm going to have kids one day, and I'm going to have to explain to my kids why their grandmother on mommy's side isn't around. And that's going to be a really hard conversation."

One thing she says she isn't worried about is hurting her children the way her mother Dee Dee hurt her, forcing Blanchard into numerous painful medical procedures she never needed.

"Whenever someone says, 'Do you think that because of what you went through, you're going to do that to your kids?' I say, 'You know what? Absolutely not,' " said Blanchard, who has gone through years of self-work and continues to receive therapy. "I have learned what not to do. I have no concerns about my parenting when it comes to that."

Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up airs Mondays at 9/8c on Lifetime. The season airs July 22 at 9/8c on Lifetime.

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