She basically made herself her own prisoner by pretending to be Rapunzel's mother all these years. She stayed young for another 18 years but she didn't really have a life other than raising a child she never had any intentions of taking care of other than exploiting her power.
sharethat's a good point. it is not really clear exactly what gothel wants to be young and beautiful forever for, she doesn't seem to get much enjoyment out of life.
shareShe does leave Rapunzel in the tower by herself a lot though - and there is mention of paints she brought back for Rapunzel from a three-day trip, so it seems she still gets out and about.
sharethat's true - maybe she's living it up while she's out and about. Perhaps she even has a toyboy somewhere.
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Actually, I think Rapunzel's power would have kept her at the same age (late teens, early adult?) for the rest of her life as well, so really, she and Mother Gothel would have been able to live forever in that tower had Eugene not discovered them. Also, as other people stated, it doesn't seem like MG was home a lot, so i think she just went home when she needed a bit of... rejuvenation.
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