According to Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood, Gregory's mother frequently took her to various doctors, coaching her to act sicker than she was and exaggerating her symptoms, and demanding increasingly invasive procedures to diagnose the girl's imaginary illnesses. At home, her mother fed Gregory a nutritionally inadequate diet (based on foods a doctor had said Gregory shouldn't have), administered prescription medicine erratically, sometimes in double doses, and filled her days with strenuous physical labor. According to Gregory, her mother even became upset when one doctor wouldn't perform open heart surgery on her daughter. Also, in the book Gregory mentions being told that matches were suckers to eat.

When Julie finally realized what her mom was doing to her, she tried telling some people about what her mom did, but no one listened. They thought Julie was making up stories for attention, and had her go to "imagination counseling" to try and tame the crazy stories of her parents.

In addition, Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood recounts allegations of physical and emotional abuse inflicted by Gregory's father, as well as other types of abuse.