HBO's latest true crime documentary, "Mommy Dead and Dearest," serves as a horrifying reminder of the evil that lies deep within seemingly ordinary people. The film follows the circumstances that led to the murder of Dee Dee Blancharde by her own daughter, Gypsy. Those who have been following the story will no doubt be curious to see the intricacies of the events that led to the murder and of how much suffering there was inside the Blancharde household.

Below the surface

The true crime documentary is directed by Erin Lee Carr, who has carefully woven different videos and images that chronicle the lives of the mother and daughter team that previously served as an inspiration for thousands of families struggling with taking care of a sick loved one.

Carr's take on the story gives audiences enough content to make them believe the otherwise unbelievable chain of events and grounds it in reality. The documentary digs deep into the source of the resentment and the final events that pushed Gypsy to the edge.

A troubled relationship

Gypsy's mother has since been diagnosed as having the psychiatric factitious disorder called Munchausen by proxy. This condition basically means that Dee Dee is driven by the attention and the sympathy she gets from the fact that she takes care of her daughter. People with this condition, nearly always female, will do anything to continue to receive that attention even if it means that they have to force or induce an illness in the person they are taking care of.

Since she was a child, Gypsy has been forced to play the role of a terminally ill paraplegic stuck in a wheelchair. However, unknown to others, Dee Dee has been pretending that her daughter was terminally ill since she was a few months old. The troubled mother even asked doctors to put Gypsy under different medical operations, including eye operations, forced feedings, organ removal, and even giving her medications that had caused irreparable side effects.

Dee Dee also shaved her daughter's head to make it look like she was undergoing chemotherapy.

Breaking free

When Gypsy was old enough to realize what her mother was doing to her, she began to rebel and attempted to escape several times. However, Dee dee managed to tighten her control over her daughter by lying about her age and acquiring a power of attorney to disqualify Gypsy from making any medical decisions on her own.

In 2015, Gypsy was able to convince her mentally ill online boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, to murder her mother to free her from a life of constant abuse. Dee Dee's body was later found brutally stabbed. Authorities did not outright suspect Gypsy was involved in the crime. After the grim story was fully uncovered, Gypsy was arrested and is now spending time in jail.

The HBO film includes several interviews with Gypsy, including her answers to questions about her feelings of guilt. The 23-year old, who is now out of a wheelchair and healthier than ever, mentioned that she prefers to stay in prison rather that live with her mother. She apparently considers herself to have been reborn following her traumatic experience.