Gypsy Rose Blanchard‘s partner, Ken Urker, has died at 34 years old. The pair first met as teenagers and became engaged before eventually going their separate ways. The two later reconnected and welcomed a daughter together. Urker’s cause of death has not been publicly disclosed, and the circumstances surrounding his passing remain unclear.
Ken Urker Was Found Unresponsive On His Birthday
Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s on-and-off partner, Ken Urker, died on his birthday, October 1. He was 34 years old.
Sources from the family confirmed the news to TMZ. According to the report, Blanchard sent Urker a “Happy Birthday” greeting via text but did not receive a response.
Her brother, Dylan, and his wife reportedly went to Urker’s Louisiana home to pick him up for his birthday celebration and found him unresponsive. Authorities responded to an emergency call, and Urker was declared dead at the scene.
Blanchard spoke to PEOPLE, revealing Urker died of an overdose, but it isn’t clear whether it was deliberate or accidental. “He was not in a good state of mind lately,” she added, saying that Urker’s passing came as a shock. “I’m in disbelief. I can’t think. I’ve screamed until my throat burns,” Blanchard said.
The sheriff’s office said it is still investigating.
Ken Urker First Connected With Gypsy Rose While She Was Incarcerated
In 2017, HBO released the documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest,” which explored the years of abuse Blanchard endured at the hands of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
The previous year, Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for her role in conspiring with her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill Dee Dee. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
After watching the documentary, Urker began a correspondence with the inmate, and they became regular pen pals. “We became fast friends. It was pretty soon after that that we started talking on the phone. We would spend hours on the phone,” Blanchard told E! News in 2019, adding that it felt as though they had known each other their whole lives.
The Couple Broke Up Less Than A Year After Their Engagement
Urker and Blanchard shared their first kiss when they met in person during a prison visit. Their relationship grew closer, and Urker proposed marriage during another prison visit in October 2018, and Blanchard gladly accepted.
Unfortunately, their engagement did not last. The couple called it quits in August 2019, less than a year after their engagement. In her memoir, Blanchard revealed that “wiser” people in Urker’s life had advised him that it might not be the right time to get married.
In a later interview, Urker said that listening to a Dr. Phil podcast and the people around him, including the public, helped him decide to break it off with Blanchard.
“I had a lot of people in my ear just telling me that the best thing I can do for her is to give her some time to build a self-identity that she’s never been able to build before, and even while she’s in prison,” he said, adding that he believed it was best to separate at that time.
The Couple Rekindled Their Romance After Gypsy Rose’s Divorce
In 2022, while still serving her sentence, Blanchard married Ryan Anderson, a teacher she began communicating with after her breakup with Urker.
Blanchard was released from prison in late 2023 after serving about eight years of her sentence. Months later, she filed for divorce from Anderson, who said he was blindsided by the decision.
After becoming single again, Blanchard reconnected with Urker, and the two rekindled their romance. She announced her pregnancy soon afterward and later gave birth to their daughter, Aurora.
Ken Urker And Gypsy Rose Blanchard Appeared In A Reality Series
Urker appeared alongside Blanchard on the reality series “Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up,” which gave viewers a glimpse into her life after prison and their relationship. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere, the couple spoke about welcoming their daughter, with Blanchard saying how meaningful it was to see Urker embrace his new role as a father.
“I love her to death, and every day I get to see her grow more and more in all these little ways,” Urker told PEOPLE in 2025.
In her statement after his passing, Blanchard praised Urker as an “amazing father” and her “soulmate.” “I will make sure she grows up knowing how deeply her father loved her and who he was beyond what strangers on the internet chose to say about him,” she added.
