Gypsy-Rose Blanchard's Boyfriend Ken Urker Dumped Her After Listening to Dr. Phil Discuss Their Relationship (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ken Urker and Gypsy-Rose Blanchard; Dr. Phil.Photo:Gypsy Rose Blanchard/Instagram;ason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Gypsy Rose Blanchard/Instagram;ason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Gypsy-Rose Blanchardand her boyfriendKen Urker’s temporary split was largely due to “outside opinion and influence” — including that ofDr. Phil, Urker says.

The couple opened up about the ups and downs of their relationship in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE ahead of the release ofGypsy Rose: Life After Lock Upseason 2. During the chat, Urker revealed what was going through his head when the pair parted ways prior totheir April 2024 reconciliation.

They later went their separate ways again for multiple years, during which Gypsy-Rose married and split from estranged husbandRyan Anderson. (She announced her separation from Anderson four months after shewas released from prison in December 2023.)

Ryan Anderson; Gypsy-Rose Blanchard.Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Phillip Faraone/Getty

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Phillip Faraone/Getty

“Well, I think one of the biggest things was outside opinion and influence,” Urker says of his decision to end things with Gypsy-Rose. “I had listened to a podcast from Dr. Phil, and 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.”

“And I felt that, at the time, all those opinions — especially Dr. Phil’s — I felt like that was the right choice to make at the time for both of us,” he continues. “So we went off in separate directions, but fate allowed us to meet back up again.”

Ken Urker and Gypsy-Rose Blanchard.Gypsy-Rose Blanchard/Instagram

Gypsy-Rose Blanchard/Instagram

TheDr. Philhost, Urker tells PEOPLE, “was one of the biggest outside, I guess, opinions that shaped the way of our relationship at the time.”

Recallinghow he and Gypsy-Rose found their way back to each other, Urker tells PEOPLE, “The very first weekend of April [2024] is when I came to visit her for the first time after she had gotten out. We spent that weekend together and had an incredible time.”

And Urker’s previous worries about giving Gypsy-Rose “time to build a self-identity" have since dissipated. It has been amazing, he says, to see how she’s “blossomed into an incredible person” since her release from prison.

Gypsy-Rose Blanchard and Ken Urker.Gypsy-Rose Blanchard/Instagram

“I couldn’t be more proud to have her as the mother of our child and as a partner in life. And I think that even after all the things that she’s gone through, that was one of the things that I loved about her from the beginning,” Urker says, adding, “I couldn’t be happier to have her at my side in this life.”

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Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Upseason 2 premieres Monday, March 10 at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

source: people.com