Michelle Dean

Writer Michelle Dean found fame and notoriety thanks in part to her dogged pursuit of a true crime story. A Canadian native, she originally pursued law after college, working for a New York law firm for several years. She began working as a freelance writer for a number of websites and publications, including The New Yorker and Elle, concentrating in literary reviews. She became fascinated by the murder of Dee Dee Blancharde by her daughter Gypsy Rose. Dean spent a year researching the case and then published an article on the website Buzzfeed detailing the events. The mother had convinced her daughter for years that the child was terminally ill. When the girl found out the truth she helped plot her mother's murder with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, who carried out the crime. The article spurred interest in the story, which became the subject of a documentary, "Mommy Dead and Dearest" (HBO, 2017), and the miniseries "The Act" (Hulu, 2019). Dean served as a producer on the latter, which starred Patricia Arquette and Joey King as the mother and daughter. The writer continued her literary pursuits as well, publishing her first book "Sharp: The Women Who Made An Art of Having An Opinion" (Grove Atlantic, 2018) looking at a group of influential women including Dorothy Parker and Nora Ephron.