Little House On The Prairie star Melissa Gilbert's agonizing past revealed - as she vows to 'stand by' husband Timothy Busfield amid child sex abuse charges

As a child star on one of America's most popular shows the future looked bright for Melissa Gilbert. 

Gilbert was just 10 years old when she beat hundreds of young actors to be cast on Little House on the Prairie, playing spirited tomboy Laura Ingalls. 

Later in life she remarked that people were often surprised to learn that in reality she was nothing like her character, noting: 'I think people still, almost into my 40s, always kind of half expected a 12-year-old to come in with a fishing pole [and in] gingham.'

Yet Gilbert's real life experiences couldn't have been further than the wholesome scenes she was famed for filming, with her life marred by several tragedies. 

Last week, Gilbert's husband Timothy Busfield was accused of child sex offences, sparking a federal manhunt before he surrendered himself to authorities on Monday. 

Gilbert has vowed to 'stand by and support' her husband, who has staunchly denied the allegations. 

It is the latest blow to the former child star, who had to overcome adversity from a young age. 

Gilbert previously spoke of the 'sadness and discomfort at home' during her childhood, with her adoptive parents - actor and comedian Paul Gilbert, and his wife, actress Barbara Crane - divorcing when she was six. 

She had been put up for adoption the day after she was born and did not have a relationship with her birth parents. 

As performers, her adoptive parents were well placed to help Gilbert break into the spotlight, and as a child, she appeared in several TV commercials, before landing her role in The Little House on the Prairie.

Yet shortly after landing the role, Gilbert was left devastated by the sudden death of her father in February 1976.

Like many people at the time, she and her adopted brother, Jonathan Gilbert, were told he died of a stroke in his sleep.

However it later emerged that he had died by suicide, with the news only coming to light after she hired a private detective at the age of 45. 

Gilbert developed a close bond with Michael Landon who played her father Charles Ingalls on LHOP, later describing him as 'one of the most influential people in my life'.

Yet tragically Gilbert lost her second father figure in 1991 when Landon passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 54.

She said the actor's 'cruel and brutal' death left 'an enormous hole' in her life, and she suffered with her mental health while trying to process her grief. 

Gilbert detailed this time in her life in her memoir, writing: 'I was heartbroken... It seemed everyone in the world wanted a quote. Yet I was incapable of communicating.

'I stayed in bed with the shades drawn. Anytime I got up and tried to move around, it felt as if I was moving through mud. I walked around dazed in my pajamas for days.' 

As a teenager, Gilbert was friendly with members of the Brat Pack and began dating Rob Lowe, with the pair both admitting to infidelity when they dated on and off between 1981 and 1987. 

The pair were briefly engaged but ended their relationship for good when Gilbert fell pregnant, with it alleged that Rob wasn't ready for fatherhood. 

Shortly after their split, however, Gilbert suffered a miscarriage, recalling in her memoir: 'I had lost my baby and my relationship with Rob… and it hurt like hell.'

Friends then set her up with Bo Brinkman - cousin of acclaimed actor Dennis Quaid - and after a whirlwind romance they became engaged six weeks later.  

They tied the knot in February 1988 and welcomed son Dakota, the following year.

But their marriage got off to a rocky start, with Gilbert noting it was 'fueled by alcohol, insecurity, and the unfamiliarity of two people who barely knew each other trying to merge their lives and work.'

They nearly split when Brinkman was unfaithful two months after welcoming their son, with Gilbert claiming that she caught him having sex with a prostitute on their living room sofa when she went downstairs to prepare Dakota's bottle. 

She didn't want her son to grow up without a father like she had, but noted it took 'a long time to get over what he’d done'.

Ultimately their marriage collapsed and they divorced in 1992.

Three years later she walked down the aisle again, this time with actor Bruce Boxleitner, and they welcomed son, Michael. 

It's been said that he was named after her Little House on the Prairie co-star Landon.

Yet their marriage came to an end after 16 years in 2011 because Gilbert wasn't impressed with the way he behaved after she broke her back. 

After a neck injury in the Nineties she suffered from a herniated disk, with the ongoing problems resulting in cervical fusion surgery.

In 2009 she suffered another herniated disc and while being treated, she had a fall, breaking her back.

'Postsurgical care and compassion was not Bruce's specialty,' Gilbert penned. 

'I could recover without his support and compassion, but the question I suddenly asked myself was, "Why? Why was it okay for me not to be cared for? What made me feel that I didn't deserve to have that in my life?"' 

Gilbert later admitted she 'lost her mind' after the divorce, getting Botox and fillers, buying a Mustang, and dating a younger man. 

She also suffered from alcoholism and at the height of her addiction would drink two bottles of wine a night.  

Gilbert said she realised she had a drinking problem when one night, while a friend was over for dinner, she passed out and woke up in a dog bed. 

The incident prompted her to go to therapy and attend AA meetings.

Throughout her personal hardships, Gilbert continued working, starring in the likes of Switched at Birth, Secrets and Lies and When We Last Spoke in 2019.

She also voiced Batgirl in Batman: The Animated Series throughout the 1990s.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, she played Caroline 'Ma' Ingalls in the musical adaptation of Little House on the Prairie.

She also participated on Dancing With The Stars in 2022, during which she fell and hit her head. 

Gilbert was rushed to the hospital and suffered from a concussion, but continued on with the competition - ultimately coming in fifth place.

In 2016, she ran for Michigan's 8th congressional district, but later dropped out of the race citing health issues.

At the time, she came under fire after it came out that she owed $360,000 in back federal taxes and $112,000 in California state taxes. She has since reportedly negotiated a repayment plan with the IRS.

Gilbert has since ditched the bright lights of Hollywood to live in the mountains - relocating in 2022 with husband Busfield, whom she met in 2012 in a bar.  

The couple purchased a $98,000 14-acre property in the Cat Skill mountains in upstate New York - only 20 minutes away from the famed Woodstock location - in order to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle.

Gilbert - who underwent multiple plastic surgery procedures throughout her career - told Fox News that she opted to move to the mountains in New York so that she could be free in her own skin.

'This is me now - no hair color, no filler, no implants, no Botox. I just take care of myself. I try to eat as well as I can. I drink a lot of water. And I'm really enjoying the aging process because of that,' she said.

'[Aging] is an uphill battle. Eventually, everyone loses. It just does not fit in with who I am and what my life is now. It's exhausting and it's unnecessary.

'I had to find a place within myself where I could stop trying to, or feeling like I needed to be what everybody else wanted me to be and be exactly who I am.'

She also told People magazine about making the move: 'I finally woke up and went, "What am I doing? I look like a carrot top, and I'm not happy."

Gilbert has dubbed her home - where she raises chickens and grows her own food - 'The Cabbage,' and it is where she was inspired to write her second book, Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade. A Life Rediscovered, during the height of the pandemic.

'Our lives are simple now, and there's a sweetness to that simplicity,' she said of the move. 

'And with that simplicity comes a real love for stillness and living my life in a peaceful place.

'Once we got up here, once we got our land and started to look at all the things we could do with it, and then when lockdown happened, it unleashed all of this stuff inside me. There was a person who was dying to have this [new life].

'I still can't believe this is what my life is like now. It's heaven. I'm just so blessed.'

Gilbert celebrated her 12th wedding anniversary with Busfield in April 2025, saying in a social media post at the time that their marriage was 'perfect.'

She last shared a picture with Busfield on social media in December. 

Gilbert later deleted her Instagram account after Busfield was accused of child sex offences.

Busfield is accused of inappropriately touching two young boys in 2022 on the set of the TV show The Cleaning Lady which he was directing.

An arrest warrant for charges of child abuse and criminal sexual contact with a minor was issued for Busfield last week.

This week, Gilbert leapt to her husband's defense, saying she 'stands with and supports him'. 

The actress' representative told the Daily Mail: 'Melissa Gilbert is not making public statements at this time. 

'Any purported "statements" circulating online - including AI-generated deepfakes of her 'breaking her silence' - should not be treated as coming from her.

'She is honoring the request of Tim’s lawyers not to speak publicly while the legal process unfolds. During this period, her focus is on supporting and caring for their very large family, as they navigate this moment. 

'Melissa stands with and supports her husband and will address the public at an appropriate time. We ask that their privacy be respected.'

In a statement obtained by The Daily Mail, Busfield's civil attorney, Stanton "Larry" Stein, called his client 'innocent'. 

'This morning, Tim voluntarily appeared before New Mexico authorities after traveling across the country to confront these false and deeply troubling allegations. He is innocent and is determined to clear his name,' Stein said. 

'As reflected in the criminal complaint, after her son was terminated from the show, the boy’s mother vowed to “get her revenge against Timothy Busfield.” What followed appears to be a calculated effort to construct a case, driven by animus not fact, despite prior investigations finding no evidence of wrongdoing.

'We now have a statement from Christina McGovern, the independent outside investigator who was retained by WB to examine the allegations of on-set misconduct: “I conducted an independent and thorough investigation of all allegations known to the Studio at the time. 

"Warner Bros. gave me full discretion as to my investigation. Based on what was alleged, and all evidence gathered, including multiple witness statements, I found no corroborating evidence that Mr. Busfield engaged in inappropriate conduct or that he was ever alone with the twins on set.”

'The claims being made against Tim are completely false, and we will fight this to the end until the truth prevails.'

Speaking in a video on Tuesday, Busfield said: 'I will confront these lies. I did not do anything to those little boys.

'I was ordered to come to Albuquerque, and well, I'm here now. 

'I got the call Friday night, I had to get a lawyer, and on Saturday I got a car and drove 2,000 miles to Albuquerque.' 

Busfield described the allegations as 'horrible lies' and vowed to fight the charges.

'They're all lies, and I did not do anything,' he said. 'I'm gonna fight it with a great team, and I know I'm going to be exonerated. I know I am, because this is all so wrong and all lies.'

Documents seen by the Daily Mail show Busfield is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County, and his first court appearance is set for Wednesday at 1:30pm from the county jail. 

According to a warrant for his arrest, an investigation into Busfield was opened in November 2024 when staff at the University of New Mexico Hospital called police and reported seven-year-old children potentially being groomed on the studio set. 

Busfield allegedly told the children, 'to call him Uncle Tim,' and the criminal complaint said he 'would tickle them on the stomach and legs, despite them not liking the tickling'.

The children did not allege sexual touching at the time, but in October 2025 one of the parents reported to Child Protective Services that her child disclosed alleged sexual abuse by Busfield, the warrant said.

The child told a therapist that Busfield touched his 'genitalia' and 'bottom' while in a bedroom on the set of the TV show, according to the affidavit first reported by KTLA. 

According to the affidavit, Busfield told an officer that he had 'playful' contact with the children on his set, but denied any wrongdoing. 

Busfield was said to have 'grown close to the boys' while they were on the set of his TV show, per a criminal complaint filed last week in New Mexico. 

When Busfield was interviewed by police about the allegations on November 3, 2025, his arrest warrant said that his wife, Little House on the Prairie star Gilbert, listened to the phone call over speakerphone. 

Busfield reportedly told investigators that the allegations against him were a revenge plot by the parents of the boy and his twin brother because he didn't invite them back to the show. 

The twin brother also allegedly said Busfield would touch him during filming, but did not allege that the touching was sexual.   

The actor's civil attorney Stein alleges that an actress on the TV set claims she was told by the boys' mother than she wanted to exact revenge on Busfield.

The arrest warrant claimed that Busfield and Gilbert had a 'relationship' with the alleged victims and their families outside of work. 

'They advised that they did buy the two boys Christmas gifts and were together [at] several social functions,' read the warrant written by Albuquerque Police Officer Marvin Brown. 

Brown stated Busfield 'would invite the family to off-set gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness'.

According to a complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, the alleged abuse occurred between November 2022 and spring 2024.

At least one of the children in the case was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder following the alleged abuse, according to the complaint.