Gypsy Rose Blanchard is speaking out after news broke that her former fiancé, Ken Urker, had died on his 34th birthday.
Speaking to People on Thursday, October 1 after Urker was found unresponsive in his home earlier that day, Blanchard, 35, said she didn’t know if his death was “intentional or not.”
“He was not in a good state of mind lately,” Blanchard told the outlet.
Blanchard, who shared 1-year-old daughter Aurora Raina with Urker, said she was still coming to terms with the loss.
“I’m in disbelief. I can’t think,” she said. “I’ve screamed until my throat burns.”
Blanchard paid tribute to Urker, telling People in a statement, “Ken was an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved. He will forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance, and even death can never erase.”
In an interview with TMZ on Thursday, Blanchard claimed that Urker had been the victim of “relentless cyberbullying” prior to his death.
Us confirmed that Urker was found unresponsive in a Raceland, Louisiana residence on Thursday on what would have been his 34th birthday.
Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed Urker’s death, telling Us they “responded to a residence” on Thursday “after receiving a call at 6:15 p.m.”
Authorities confirmed Urker “was found dead upon arrival” and added, “At this time, we are continuing the death investigation.”
According to TMZ, Blanchard had sent a text message to Urker to say “Happy birthday” and did not get a reply. Later, Urker’s brother Dylan discovered him in the home. Urker’s sister Autumn also confirmed her brother’s death via an emotional TikTok Live on Thursday evening.
Blanchard and Urker’s relationship began as pen pals when she was behind bars for seven years for her role in the 2015 murder of her mom, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
After seeing the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest in 2017, Urker wrote a supportive letter to Blanchard as she continued to serve out her sentence.
When he later visited her in prison, they shared their first kiss and Urker subsequently proposed to Blanchard in October 2018.
Urker and Blanchard split the following year and she moved on with Ryan Anderson, who she married in a prison ceremony in 2022.
When Blanchard and Anderson’s marriage fell apart in early 2024, she reconciled with Urker and welcomed their first child, a daughter named Aurora, in December 2024.
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