Gypsy Rose Blanchard Reveals Boyfriend Ken Urker Called Off Their 2019 Engagement to ‘Set Her Free’

Ken Urker’s reason for ending his engagement to Gypsy Rose Blanchard in 2019 was more complicated than she once thought.

The Louisiana native, 33, detailed the start of her romance with boyfriend Ken, 31, as well as their engagement and years-long split, in her new memoir, My Time to Stand, which was released on Tuesday, December 10. Gypsy admitted in the book that she thought the demise of their relationship was a result of Hulu’s 2019 true crime drama The Act, starring Joey King and Patricia Arquette. The series followed a retelling of the events leading up to the murder of Gypsy’s mom, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.

“We kept our engagement private, only telling our closest family,” Gypsy wrote, recalling Ken’s proposal during a visit to see her at the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri in 2018. “Then The Act aired on Hulu, and I went from being known to being a pseudocelebrity.”

“My personal life was a carcass to vultures to feast on. The media, including true crime armchair enthusiasts, investigated everything about me, including Ken,” she continued. “The invasion was really hard on him.”

However, Gypsy later learned that this wasn’t the reason behind Ken’s decision to call off their engagement in the summer of 2019.

“I thought at first that it was Ken’s discomfort with the popularity of The Act and the widening of my reputation that led him to end our relationship,” she wrote. “I was wrong. At the time of this writing, Ken has reached out to explain and set the record straight.”

Gypsy added, “There were many adults in his life, presumably much ‘wiser’ than he, who suggested it wasn’t the right time for me to be married. ‘If you love her, you’ll set her free,’ was the common piece of advice he’d hear again and again. I see now, he believed he was acting in my best by sacrificing his own needs and wants.”

Gypsy, who served roughly eight years out of a 10-year prison sentence for her involvement in her mother’s murder, met Ken when he wrote to her while she was behind bars. “His voice leaped off the page, as if he were sitting right in front of me,” she explained in her book. “Holding the paper, I could feel his energy. He was just a cool guy. ‘Hi, my name is Ken.’”

Ken later visited Gypsy in prison and kissed her for the first time, marking the start of their romantic relationship. He proposed to her one year later.

The pair planned to walk down the aisle in January 2020, but they split the summer beforehand. Gypsy then moved on with Ryan Anderson, whom she married in July 2022 while still in prison. However, Gypsy and Ryan, 37, separated this March, four months after her release from prison on parole. She filed for divorce in April, and the former couple reached a settlement earlier this month.

Gypsy wrote in her memoir that friends and family “knew” she and Ryan “weren’t supposed to be together.”

“But like every other lesson I’ve learned in life, I’d have to figure that out on my own,” she continued.

After her release from prison, Gypsy reconnected with Ken, and the pair rekindled their romance following her split from Ryan. The couple announced in July that they are expecting their first child, a baby girl, in January 2025.