The cryptic message Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s ex Ken Urker shared with friend in his final weeks before tragic death
Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s ex Ken Urker sent a cryptic message about his mental health just weeks before his tragic death.
“I spoke to him probably about two weeks ago, and I was just checking in,” a source close to Blanchard and Urker exclusively told Page Six.
The source wanted to see how Urker was doing after his breakup with the “Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up” star.
“I checked in on him two weeks ago, just saying, ‘Hey, just checking in. ‘Cause I know it’s a hard time for both of you.’ And he was like, ‘I love you to bits. I’m surviving right now. But thanks for checking in.”
The source told us that they didn’t think too much into his messaging about “surviving” and thought he was “doing okay.”
However, the source also noted that Blanchard and Urker ended their relationship due to his mental health struggles.
“She wanted him back obviously, and he just wasn’t in the right frame of mind,” the source said. “His mental health wasn’t good for the past few months.”
“We all just wanted him to kind of get better and see if he would get some therapy,” the source continued. “And [Blanchard] was just hoping that [getting back together] would be the outcome.”
The source said that Gypsy was shocked when first responders found Urker with drug paraphernalia and a gun at the time of his death.
“We’re all just confused because there were no signs that he was going to do this,” the source said. “There were no signs he was gonna take these steps.”
The insider claimed that Urker didn’t really have a strong support system around him.
“There’s a few times he messaged and said, ‘I’ve got nobody.’ So I’m like, well, I’m here. So I felt like he didn’t really [have support],” the source claimed.
Page Six exclusively reported that Blanchard and Urker began living separately two months ago and officially broke up a month later.
We’re told the exes continued to “amicably” co-parent their 1-year-old daughter, Aurora, and were constantly communicating for the sake of their child.
“They both just amicably, a month ago, said let’s just leave it here, have our space, and see where we’re at,” the source said.
While Blanchard, 35, was with their daughter during the week, Urker would take care of her on the weekends.
The Lafourche Parish Public Information Officer confirmed to Page Six that Urker was found dead in his Louisiana home on his 34th birthday last Thursday.
Investigators said they “found no evidence of foul play” and were “continuing the death investigation.”
“Deputies walked in the direction of the room and located paraphernalia (syringes and spoon) in the bathroom next to a brown powdery substance,” stated a police report obtained by Page Six. “Deputies located a syringe and a handgun on the nightstand next to the bed.”
Urker was discovered “lying on the bed on his back, cold to the touch, and appeared to have been there for an extended period of time,” according to the report.
Blanchard took to social media to share her heartbreak over his death and claimed that he had died of a suspected overdose.
“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,” she wrote in part.
Blanchard also claimed that Urker “endured an unimaginable level of public scrutiny” and “relentless cyberbullying” on several social media platforms.
“The cruelty directed toward him was something no human being should have to endure,” she wrote.
Blanchard also asked her fans to sign an online harassment petition in honor of Urker’s memory and thanked her followers for their support.
Urker met Blanchard in 2017 when she was in prison for the murder of her mom, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.
They got engaged in 2018 but broke up a year later. Blanchard moved on by marrying Ryan Scott Anderson in June 2022, but they ended their marriage after two years.
Blanchard and Urker rekindled their relationship shortly after, and they welcomed their daughter in December 2024.
If you or someone you care about is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).