♪ this is "nightline." >> juju: tonight, checking in with gypsy rose blanchard. her new look, new life, and new man with millions watching her every move. >> they want a perfect victim, and there is no such thing as a perfect victim. >> juju: five months after being released from prison for her role in her abusive mother's brutal mother. >> i don't hate her. i don't resent her. >> juju: opening up about her

recent divorce and her new romance. do you regret the marriage? plus, the death of tiktok? >> america really runs on tiktok. >> juju: the government taking aim at the wildly popular app. >> what we're saying is, you can't conduct espionage on a social media platform. >> juju: we're with the d'amelios, arguably the first family of tiktok. >> the video went viral and gaining a million followers a day. >> juju: they sabaning the platform is not the answer. >> i think everyone loses. >> juju: who are we really inviting to watch us? and j. lo cancels her u.s. summer tour. ♪ why the "on the floor" singer says it's absolutely necessary. sometimes your work shirt needs to be for more than just work. like when it needs to be a big, soft shoulder to cry on. which is why downy does more to make clothes softer, fresher, and better.

downy. breathe life into your laundry. pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go.

♪ >> juju: thanks for joining us. tonight, it's a whole new gypsy rose. we travel to new orleans to sit down with one of the most unlikely social media stars months after her release from prison for helping plot the murder of her abusive mother. millions of followers are watching her every move, and these days, there's plenty to see. is life on the outside what you expected? >> there are some things that i did not expect coming out of prison. >> gypsy!

>> and particularly the hype that everyone had about me and me being released. >> hi, i'm gypsy rose blanchard. >> juju: gypsy rose blanchard, the 32-year-old with the baby voice, infamous for her role in the murder of her mother, didi, life has been a whirlwi everythg on full display. >> i think that i wanted to be like everyone else and have that right of freedom to have social media and interact with my friends online. i had no idea that i would have 9.8 million followers. >> juju: her story and her willingness to share it -- >> hey, everyone, this is gypsy. i'm finally free. >> juju: from her mother's murder to her life in prison to her failed marriage, making her a social media juggernaut with nearly 10 million followers. and you're often portrayed either as the victim of

munchausen or the murderer? >> right. >> juju: and what do you want people to know about you? >> quite honestly, i'm starting to feel like they want a perfect victim. and there is no such thing as a perfect victim. in their mind, the perfect victim would have died. so now that i survived and the perpetrator of the abuse is the one that died, then i'm getting the hate. >> juju: the sick little girl in the wheelchair wasn't actually sick. instead, she was a victim of munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder where a parent seeks attention through their child's made-up illnesses. gypsy's mother shaved her head and forced her to have unnecessary surgeries, like putting in a feeding tube and having her teeth removed. >> where are we going today? >> i'm going to children's mercy hospital to see my dentist about my tooth. >> juju: by the time gypsy was in her early 20s, she found a

boyfriend online and conspired to have him kill her mother while she hid in another room. gypsy was sentenced to ten years in prison. he was sentenced to life without parole. her jaw-dropping story capped elevating the nation. chronicling life after prison in the series "gypsy rose: life after lockup." capturing ray, personal moments like her first few hours out of prison. >> we're being followed. >> i'm getting a huge culture shock. >> juju: now she's back in her native louisiana with newly blond hair, new teeth, a new nose. what made you want to volunteer for surgery after all those forced surgeries? >> i mean, i have always been very self-conscious about my nose. and that was always a point of a lack of self-esteem. so it was a choice that i got to make of my own free will, and it was not forced upon me.

>> juju: but she's experienced more than just changes to her appearance since getting out. gypsy splitting from her husband of two years, ryan anderson, a middle school teacher who first sent her letters in prison. cameras were there the first night they spent together as man and wife. >> what if i snore? >> well, then we've got to get a divorce right away. >> juju: back in january, the two seemed to be happily in love as they sat down with my colleague, deborah roberts. >> deborah: did you get your happy ending? >> i think i did. >> time will tell. i think i'm her prince charming. >> juju: their relationship ultimately breaking down just three months after her release. gypsy filed for divorce in april. what went so wrong so fast? >> i think people need to understand that ryan and i had been in a relationship three years. sometimes relationships just take its cost, and that's what happened. >> juju: but media reports hinted at something darker happening between the two. there was some intimation, some reporting that you were afraid of him? is that accurate? >> i'm not afraid of ryan.

i think that there is some things that happened that i think we both wish wouldn't have. but that's a relationship. it goes through its ups and downs, and it's really difficult sometimes. >> juju: abc news reached out to her ex's attorney, telling abc news, any allegations of abuse leveled against mr. anderson are false and adatly denied, and we consider any such allegations to be defamatory in nature." do you regret the marriage? >> i regret getting married while i was still in prison. i don't regret the relationship. >> juju: gypsy's estranged husband ryan telling abcs through his attorney that he was blindsided because he felt things were going well, and all of a sudden she's gone. also adding, "i understand she was conflicted and she loves someone else too." was that part of the breakup? >> ryan and i honestly had

issues long before ken was even discussed about. >> juju: but you are with ken now, because you posted "love of a life time" referring to ken. >> uh-huh. >> juju: what makes him the love of a lifetime? >> you just know. you just know when someone's in your heart and you can't ever let them go. it's just different. you know when you're in love. >> juju: now their romance is part of gypsy's latest lifetime documentary project. why allow documentary cameras to follow you? >> i want to show who i am as a person. going to this -- my new life with shedding off all of those ideas about me that i feel are incorrect or wrong or misjudged. thank you for cheering me on and being the best cheerleaders out there. i will be taking a little bit of a step back from social media. >> juju: those judgments, she says, on social media are so toxic, it led her to temporarily walk away. you were getting death threats?

>> i still am to this day still getting death threats. >> juju: why? >> people just -- some people don't like me. today is mother's day. >> juju: one post in particular, gypsy acknowledging her mother, didi, this past mother's day, sparking major backlash. >> it does not go without notice that my own biological mother is not here to celebrate mother's day. and what i choose to feel on mother's day regarding my own mother is that i think the best of her. >> juju: what do you feel like the backlash was about? >> i wanted to acknowledge her, her memory. i wanted to honor her memory. and if i got hate for that, then so be it. >> juju: you've spent a lot of time thinking about your mom. what do you take these years later? >> i honestly feel that my mother, she had mental illness.

and i don't hate her. i don't resent her. it's a constant choice to look back and remember the good that was inside of her and not always constantly have that guilt of what i did to her, what she did to me. >> here we are with gypsy rose -- >> juju: for now, gypsy is learning to define what her new found freedom means to her. and so what is the higher purpose, if there is one, to doing the doc? >> sharing my story, and hopefully impacting other potential victims that are going through munchausen by proxy so they can see someone that went through it. and i think right now, i have to focus on my personal purpose, which is healing myself. i have to get myself right before i can help anybody else. >> juju: gypsy rose: life after lockup" premieres june 3rd on lifetime. when we come back, we're

with the first family of tiktok, the d'amelios, speaking out against the u.s. plan to ban the platform, threatening the livelihood of its most popular content creators. ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk.

side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. want to get the most out of one sheet? grab bounty. (♪) bounty is made to be stronger... ...and more absorbent. so, while ordinary brands can't hold up, one sheet of bounty keeps working, even when wet. (♪) now that's the sound of value. bounty. the quicker picker upper. not flossing well? then add the whoa! of listerine to your routine. new science shows listerine is 5x more effective than floss at reducing plaque above the gumline. for a cleaner, healthier mouth. ahhhhh. listerine. feel the whoa! pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go!

♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go.

you made a cow! actually it's a piggy bank. my inspiration to start saving. how about a more solid way to save? i'm listening. well, bmo helps get your savings habit into shape with a cash reward, every month you save. both: cash reward? and there's a cash bonus when you open a new checking account to get you started. wow. anything you can't do? ( ♪ ) mugs. ♪ bmo ♪

>> juju: welcome back. the clock is ticking on tiktok. in late april, congress passing a law giving the company one year to be sold or be banned in the u.s. but many of its most popular content creators, like the wildly popular d'amelio family, say they are the ones with the most to lose. here's abc's ashan singh. ♪ what a time to be alive ♪

>> i think it was the right place, right now. what was really interesting about tiktok is it showed early on, real life. it got into your house. whereas instagram early on was trying to portray your most perfect self. and now all of a sudden you have charli, who has that girl next door look, dancing, doesn't have a care in the world, is smiling. >> reporter: the d'amelio family quickly rose to the top of tiktok. five years later, heidi and mark d'amelio find it hard to believe how fast their family shot to shame. >> we have a billboard on sunset. every time we drive by, "what happened to our lives? this is insane." we do photo shoots here. >> sometimes we'll have 30, 40 people in here. >> reporter: this is a far cry from life pre-tiktok in suburban connecticut. mark, a business owner and former republican state senate candidate. heidi, a photographer and former

model. very soon after joining tiktok, charli was signed to a talent agency along with the rest of her family, including big sister dixie, who's also popular on the app. >> charli's first video went viral in july. after that she and dixie were gaining a million followers a day. >> reporter: and holds came knocking for the d'amelios. looking back on these past four years, just how big has the d'amelio brand gotten in this time? >> yeah, it's gotten pretty big. it's manageable, though. from d'amelio footwear. we have a snack company that we were fortunate enough to launch with the biggest retailer in the world in walmart. >> reporter: thanks to tiktok, mark collins is living the american dream. >> i'm at 6.6 million on tiktok. >> reporter: 6.6 million. >> let me go to carvana, they've got everything. >> reporter: from video views to brand deals, this college dropout is bringing home six figures. >> cook for your mom, i mean --

>> reporter: in washington, the countdown to tiktok's potential dem he's is already under way. congress passed a way, president biden signed it. >> the bill is passed -- >> reporter: saying tiktok's parent company, bytedance, has one year to either sell the app or be banned in the u.s. in the most basic form, it all comes down to one thing. china. >> what they care about is seeming tough on china, or restricting people. >> there's a mutual paranoia that has brought us to this almost comical point in which the two greatest powers on earth are vying over a teenage video app. >> reporter: yet, this is one of the few things democrats and republicans in d.c. can agree on. is this a ban? >> no. it's not a ban. it's a regulation. it would be like calling a speed limit a driving ban. what we're saying is, you can't conduct espionage on a social media platform. >> reporter: you say not china specifically.

congressman, is this not a slippery slope? >> no. foreign adversaries. north korea. china. iran. russia. >> i think it's important to recognize, we're actually doing this to protect the privacy of americans. people feel like they're taking their rights away. but it's actually protecting their privacy. >> reporter: many americans are not buying that argument. if tiktok does cease to exist, who loses? >> i think everyone loses. i think small business loses. i think the politicians lose also. >> it does feel odd that the u.s. government is saying, we have secret reasons to ban this massive media enterprise in this country. that is not american. we should be able to say, hey, look, here's our evidence. >> reporter: the looming possibility of a ban setting the stage for the showdown of the digital generation. how do national security and freedom of speech coexist in the age of social media?

>> it's taking away a resource for a generation. >> you're taking resources for all generations. and i don't think no one realized that. >> reporter: in the united states, between 150 million and 170 million people are active on tiktok. about half our country's total population. and 80% of them are under the age of 34. from the hype houses churning out young viral sensations to the middle-aged adults reinventing themselves, some say tiktok is redefining success. >> you could just an mom or a chef or a bus driver or just dancing at home. like, a kid that could just go on there, post one video, and then you wake up and become a megastar. >> reporter: the american people don't seem to be on the same page. >> they don't realize they're actually being manipulated by a foreign adversary. >> reporter: what evidence have you guys actually seen that this is a threat to national

security? >> i can't get into the classified information. >> reporter: is there concrete evidence that we can point to that says that nefarious activity is going on? >> yes. a lot of it is classified. and that's why, in part, i have asked the intelligence community to do whatever it can to continue to unclassify this information so that more people can see it. >> reporter: even though tiktok is headquartered in singapore, its parent company, bytedance, is a chinese company. >> it's a private enterprise. most of its investors are international investors, not chinese. >> reporter: for years, the fbi has been warning of possible security risks from tiktok. >> u.s. officials say the chinese government could hypothetically gain access to americans' data through the app. >> reporter: what do you say to americans who see this as a generational divide between congress and your constituency, that 170 million americans are on this app, so many of them actually make a living off of tiktok, and you guys are almost just missing the mark with this

platform? >> he's calling us old. go ahead. >> there is information that says, for the age group 30 and under, there are many groups that their number one search for news is on tiktok. >> 10 out of 10 must try again. >> reporter: for marque and so many others of his generation, right now the social media experience begins and ends with tiktok. what's getting lost in the sauce of the dialogue? >> america really runs on tiktok. this is literally a way to communicate and make a connection with everyone in the world. so i can be in rooms that i'll never be in. it's just crazy how the app made it so easy and so accessible to everyone in the world. >> reporter: you're saying it made the world smaller? >> it made the world reachable to everyone. at their fingertips.

>> juju: our thanks to ashan. you can see the entire episode of "impact by nightline: the death of tiktok?" now streaming on hulu. when we return, fans who can't get enough of j. lo are out of luck. ♪ turn me on and on you've got me celebrating ♪ ♪ i wanna celebrate it can't nothing take me out of my zone it's on ♪ crohn's disease... put it in check with rinvoq... a once—daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief... and reduced fatigue with rinvoq. check. when flares kept trying to slow me down... i got lasting steroid—free remission... with rinvoq. check. and when my doctor saw damage,... rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check. for both uc and crohn's: rapid symptom relief... lasting steroid—free remission... and visibly reduced damage. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal;

cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. on hulu. with rinvoq. them there ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq and learn how abbvie can help you save. you can't leave without cuddles. but, you also can't leave covered in hair. with bounce pet, you can cuddle and brush that hair off. bounce, it's the sheet. pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go.

♪ >> juju: finally tonight, jr. lopez canceling her upcoming tour. j. lo fans hoping to be on the floor for her upcoming summer track, lopez saying she is heartsick and devastated about letting fans down and promising to make it up to them. in march, j. lo canceled multiple shows amid reports of low ticket sales. she rebranded the show last month. live nation representatives say in a statement that lopez is, quote, taking time off to be with her children, family, and close friends. and that's "nightline." see you right back here monday sa