Dee Dee vs. Emma

The relationship shown between Dee Dee and her mother seems strange. “The Act makes it look they were in competition for parenting Gypsy and this was not the case,” Fancy said. “Dee Dee always appeared to everyone to be a perfectly capable parent. Odd and overprotective but capable.” Instead, Fancy clarifies that Dee Dee and Emma “were very close. Dee Dee was the favorite child and it was obvious.” According to the family, “It was more of an alliance between Emma and Dee Dee to garner sympathy for Dee Dee all her life. She was treated very differently than the other siblings by both her father and her mother. … They do believe that Emma displayed similar issues [to Dee Dee’s Munchausen syndrome by proxy], but nowhere to the extent that Dee Dee took it to. It was more of the fact that Emma doted on Dee Dee and made her be different and favored from [her other five children]. She did claim Dee Dee was sick a lot and told the kids to be quiet because she needed her rest. But they felt like that was so Dee Dee could do what she wanted and not have to do the things they had to do like chores.”