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Melissa Gilbert Spent Her 50th Birthday Crying at a Spiritual Center

Kelsey Goeres — Thu, 18 May 2023 18:12:39 +0000

Melissa Gilbert recently turned 59. She had a quiet day with her family, which she said was “heaven.” As the former Little House on the Prairie star enjoys her last year in her 50s, let’s look back at how she began the decade: having a moving experience at a spiritual center.

Melissa Gilbert | Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Melissa Gilbert wanted to do something ‘quiet and reflective’ for her 50th birthday

Gilbert couldn’t have ignored turning 50 if she’d wanted to. Publications and sites ran headlines like “Half-Pint Reaches Half a Century” for months leading up to May 8. But she didn’t want to ignore it. She also didn’t want to celebrate with a big blowout, as she’d done for milestone birthdays in the past.

“For fifty, I decided that I’d had enough crazy to last a lifetime,” she wrote in her 2022 memoir, Back to the Prairie. “I thought something quiet and reflective was most appropriate for this milestone.”

So her husband, Timothy Busfield, took her to the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It’s not somewhere Gilbert would have thought to go on her own, but she was happy for Busfield’s suggestion.

“We got there and I stared at my husband with deep admiration,” she wrote. “How did he know? Because, ladies and gentlemen, that’s Timothy Busfield.”

The Meher Spiritual Center

The Meher Spiritual Center is a celebration of Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual master. The grounds feature lakes, beaches, and forestry across five hundred acres. When Gilbert and Busfield stayed there, they stayed in a small cabin for $35 a night where they unplugged and disconnected from the outside world.

“There were no phones, TVs, newspapers, or even classes to take,” she wrote. “Just a quiet that was blanketed with Baba’s message of love.”

Gilbert and Busfield spent their days resting and lost in thought “on a deeply spiritual level.”

Melissa Gilbert’s experience in Meher Baba’s bedroom

Melissa Gilbert | Nick Hagen for The Washington Post via Getty Images

There were several places on the grounds that were preserved exactly as they were when Meher Baba roamed the center in the 1960s. One of those places was Baba’s bedroom. Visitors are permitted to visit the bedroom and rest their heads on his bed, a spiritual ritual that allows the person to connect with Baba’s spirit. Gilbert was skeptical but tried to enter the space open-mindedly.

“In addition to all my natural skepticism, I wasn’t interested in acquiring any more or any new religion in my life, but I had been enjoying my time in this outdoor temple and relishing the rejuvenating effects of being immersed in nature for days, and so I gamely followed Tim into this bedroom,” she wrote.

Her reaction to the experience surprised her.

“Then, when it was my turn to go in, I laid my forehead on the bed and my whole face started leaking tears, like I was binge-crying uncontrollable tears full of joy,” she wrote. “It was the strangest, weirdest thing, and I loved it. I sailed out of there on a carpet of bliss.”

Gilbert felt the experience was a great way to start off her 50s. We’ll have to wait and see what Half-Pint does to ring in her 60s.

Melissa Gilbert Called ‘DWTS’ ‘the Ultimate Spray-Tan-Glitter-Fake-Hair-Fake-Everything Festival of Falsity’

Kelsey Goeres — Tue, 09 May 2023 18:43:53 +0000

Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert competed on Dancing With The Stars in March 2012 as part of the Season 14 cast. Her partner was Maksim Chmerkovskiy, whom she still ‘gets along with “adores” to this day. But she has complicated feelings about the show itself. The Laura Ingalls actor was on DWTS during a time when she was on the cusp of learning who the real Melissa Gilbert is. And, as it turns out, DWTS doesn’t agree with the real Melissa Gilbert.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Melissa Gilbert | Adam Taylor / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Melissa Gilbert felt like she had to do ‘Dancing With The Stars’ to prove that her back had healed

Gilbert broke her back when she was playing Laura Ingalls’ mother in the touring musical of Little House on the Prairie back in 2009. But she didn’t learn she’d broken her back until after the musical had wrapped. So she trudged through the tour by receiving steroids and epidural nerve blocks. Once a doctor told her that she’d been walking around (and singing and dancing) with a broken back, she underwent surgery. The healing process was long a grueling (and it’s actually when the actor started questioning her second marriage to Bruce Boxleitner).

Three years and one divorce later, Gilbert was asked to be on Dancing With the Stars. At the time, she felt like she had something to prove.

“I got invited to be part of the ultimate spray-tan-glitter-fake-hair-fake-everything festival of falsity, except for the fact I was training nonstop and telling myself that I had to do this farkakte show to prove that my back was healed and I could do anything I wanted,” she wrote in her 2022 memoir Back to the Prairie.

The ‘Little House’ alum calls her ‘DWTS’ experience ‘agonizing’

No one on DWTS ever calls their time on the show easy. Gilbert says her experience was “hands-down the most agonizing, painful, physical, emotional, exhausting thing I had done in my life at that point.”

What’s more, she felt the whole philosophy of the show “skewed [her] life the wrong way.” It’s not something she would do today.

Despite the toll the show took on Gilbert’s mind and body, she really did enjoy being paired with her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, whom she calls “a demanding, generous, warm, temperamental, funny, difficult, charming, talented, and emotional perfectionist.”

She says she still adores him to this day.

Melissa Gilbert’s ‘DWTS’ concussion

If you watched Season 14 of DWTS, surely you remember the drama of Gilbert’s concussion. It took place during week four when the couple was dancing the Paso Doble. She hit her head on her partner’s leg and was taken to the hospital that night.

“Our paso doble was one of the hardest things I had ever tried to learn,” she wrote. “It proved that I really could tackle anything that I put my mind to, and my body would follow, sometimes reluctantly, but damn it, it did as requested. On the live broadcast, our paso started with a surprisingly impressive combination of speed, precision, and Spanish flair. But as Maks and I approached the climactic drop spin, I got too close to him and catastrophe struck. His feet caught my head and neck, and suddenly the six-foot-two-inch Ukrainian went flying while I screamed in pain.”

Gilbert’s instinct was to walk it off and act like she wasn’t in pain. But she knew it wasn’t good. An ambulance took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a severe concussion and whiplash and sent home to rest.

Not too long after Gilbert’s time on the show, she realized she needed to make a big change. She was tired of the glitz, glam, and hyper-competitiveness of Hollywood. She wanted to take her life in a new direction.

Melissa Gilbert on the ‘Mean’ Boyfriend She Had After Divorcing Bruce Boxleitner

Kelsey Goeres — Tue, 09 May 2023 01:40:33 +0000

After Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert divorced her second husband, Bruce Boxleitner, she quickly started dating someone who, in hindsight, wasn’t good for her. He seemed to have all the bad qualities of every boyfriend she’d ever had, all wrapped up in one person.

Melissa Gilbert | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Melissa Gilbert ‘raced into [a] new relationship’ after her divorce from Bruce Boxleitner

After Gilbert and Boxleitner divorced, the Laura Ingalls actor was eager to make up for lost time when it came to dating. At the same time, she was coming to terms with being an actress in Los Angeles in her forties. So she got the Botox, she colored her hair, she bought a convertible, and started dating a “slightly younger but wildly inappropriate French dude.”

“Feeling like I had been tamped down and muzzled for far too long, I raced into my new relationship status, trying to make up for lost time and recapture the freedom I remembered from my youth,” wrote Gilbert in her 2022 memoir Back to the Prairie. “I knew I wasn’t a kid anymore, but I wasn’t ready or willing to concede any ground. All women experience enormous pressure to look and stay young and attractive but, as I discovered, being a single woman in your forties in Los Angeles is a whole different league of pressure, and being an actress looking for work in an industry obsessed with youth ratchets that up even further.”

Melissa Gilbert’s boyfriend was ‘every lesson [she] refused to learn’

Gilbert told herself that her new French boyfriend was “fresh, fun, and proof that I was still desirable.”

But really he was bad news.

“He was all the bad behaviors of anyone with whom I had ever been involved, married or otherwise, rolled into one package,” she wrote. “He was every lesson I refused to learn.”

She saw some of her first husband, Bo Brinkman, in him. A little of her second. He even had some of ex-boyfriend Rob Lowe’s bad-boy qualities.

“He was mean. He was not generous. He was self-centered. He was vain. He was judgmental. He was chauvinistic. He was xenophobic. He was uber-conservative politically. And he was obvious about it,” she said of her then-boyfriend.

The ‘Little House on the Prairie’ star ended the relationship

Melissa Gilbert with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Val Chmerkovskiy | Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

You may be wondering: Did this guy have any redeeming qualities? Why did the Laura Ingalls actor stay with him? Gilbert writes that because he was so attractive and came from a “truly lovely family,” she “held on to the threads of possibilities.” But he kept letting her down.

They dated throughout her time on Dancing With the Stars, which she calls “the most agonizing, painful, physical, emotional, exhausting” thing she’d done in her life at that point. Her unnamed boyfriend didn’t provide sympathy or support as she progressed through the show.

After an injury unrelated to the dancing competition (though she had her fair share of DWTS-related injuries, too), Gilbert began reflecting on her life and decided she needed to make a change.

“My life clearly wasn’t working,” she wrote. “I couldn’t be with inappropriate dudes anymore. I couldn’t continue to do these things to my face and my body. I had to figure out who I was and where I was headed and what was good and healthy for me.”

So she called “the Frenchman” and told him not to come visit her anymore. And that was the end of that.

Read more about Gilbert’s life and relationships in Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered.

How Melissa Gilbert Spent Her 59th Birthday

Kelsey Goeres — Mon, 08 May 2023 19:48:20 +0000

Melissa Gilbert turns 59 today on Monday May 8, 2023. Best known for playing Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, Gilbert’s life looks a lot different these days. She’s hung up her Hollywood heels for a pair of boots she can get dirty in the chicken coop. Her birthday this year fits in perfectly with her new life. “This is heaven,” she said of the day.

Melissa Gilbert | Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Melissa Gilbert moved to the Catskills with husband Timothy Busfield in 2019

Gilbert and her husband Thirtysomething actor Timothy Busfield bought a 14-acre property with a rundown cottage in the Catskills in 2019. The couple was craving open space and an escape from city living. When they bought the home, it was moldy, bug-infested, and filled with musty furniture. But that didn’t scare off Gilbert and Busfield, who became DIY pros throughout the course of fixing up their new little slice of heaven. Today, they live there full-time, with their chickens, dog, and luscious garden. The Little House on the Prairie actor says she’s never been happier.

Melissa Gilbert’s 59th birthday was spent with family

Looking at the Instagram post Gilbert posted on her birthday, it seems the actor spent her special day with family.

The photo shows Gilbert sitting down, hair up in a messy bun with glasses on, holding a sleeping toddler.

“This is 59,” she wrote. “This is heaven. Thank you all for the wonderful heartfelt birthday wishes. This Nana sends you oceans of love. Xoxo #lastbirtdayinmy50s #lovinglife #proudgrandma #nana #nanapint.”

Gilbert has two biological children — Dakota Brinkman (who she had with her first husband Bo Brinkman) and Michael Boxleitner (who she had with her second husband Bruce Boxleitner). Between herself and Busfield, the couple have several grandchildren: Ruby, Ripley, Rosemary, and Eli.

What the Little House on the Prairie alum is up to these days

Melissa Gilbert | Nick Hagen for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Besides living in her newly renovated cottage, tending to her garden and chickens, and enjoying being a grandmother, Gilbert is still keeping plenty busy with work. She has a lifestyle brand called Modern Prairie, which is “centered around modern, mature women and their needs, focusing on empowering them to regain their confidence through aging.” Gilbert and co share recipes, kitchen tools, clothing, and houseware with their audience. She also conducts interviews with “Modern Mavens, who have come from different backgrounds and life experiences.”

“At Modern Prairie, we want to […] create a space where women can share their stories, ask questions and learn from each other,” reads the website.

Additionally, Gilbert has a podcast (that is sponsored by Modern Prairie) called The Knitty Gritty podcast, which she hosts with Susie Shubert. The podcast explores “all the good things and the wisdom and freedom that come with growing older. Okay, they may touch on some of the bad… and quite possibly the down-right ugly…after all, knit happens. No matter what–aging gratefully, unapologetically, with laughter, and celebrating it together is what matters most.”

Gilbert is also close enough to New York for acting projects. Besides the theater she’s taken part in over the last few years, she’s acted in the TV movies: When We Last Spoke, Hometown Christmas, and Tenure.

Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield Bought a Moldy, Bug-Infested House Complete With Musty Furniture

Kelsey Goeres — Sun, 07 May 2023 07:36:00 +0000

When Little House on the Prairie actor Melissa Gilbert and husband Thirtysomething actor Timothy Busfield bought a small home in the Catskills, it wasn’t much to look at. From the outside it appeared dilapidated, from the inside it smelled of must. But what was interesting about the cabin was that the previous owners had seemingly up and left all of their previous belongings — from cereal in the cupboards to shampoo in the shower. Still, that didn’t scare off Gilbert and Busfield. They bought the “little house” and made it into their own special haven.

Timothy Busfield and Melissa Gilbert | Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield’s first impression of the home

The first impression of the little cabin in the mountains was mixed. The couple’s realtor was visibly unsure.

“Huh, this is the house you like?” she asked, according to Gilbert in her 2022 book, Back to the Prairie.

The outside appeared to be falling apart. The roof looked like it needed work and the stucco was chipping off.

But the property was the showstopper. There weren’t neighbors for miles. The air was fresh, mountainous, and the surrounding woods were lush. Gilbert and Busfield wanted to move to the Catskills partially to get away from the hustle and bustle of New York City. They wanted open space. The property attached to this dilapidated little house certainly gave them that.

“I remember once reading in Thoreau’s journal that he came to the woods like ‘a hungry man to a crust of bread.’ I saw that in Tim’s eyes. I was more like a woman arriving at a restorative yoga class,” wrote Gilbert.

Gilbert and Busfield’s new home appeared abandoned

What was eerie about the inside of the home was that it seemed as though whoever lived in the cabin previously had suddenly up and left without bringing anything with them. All of the musty furniture was still there. The walls were adorned with decaying deer heads. There were dirty dishes in the sink, clothes in the bedrooms, soap in the shower.

“Whoever lived here, it’s like they were just raptured up,” Gilbert told her husband.

The Laura Ingalls actor couldn’t help but be curious about the people who had lived there before them.

“People talk about staging homes,” she wrote. “This was anti-staging. Something about the scene felt dire and sad. There was a story here, but it had been left unfinished. The last act was a blank page.”

Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield | Nick Hagen for The Washington Post via Getty Images

‘We decided to make an offer’

Despite everything — the smell, the furniture, the deer heads — Gilbert and Busfield saw the potential of the place. So they made an offer. After passing inspections, the couple got the house for ninety thousand dollars—”beer money for George Clooney,” writes Gilbert. It was a far less extravagant home purchase than other actors were making at the time, so the buy wasn’t covered in the Times or other publications. The property was simply marked as “off market” on Zillow. All the same, Gilbert and Busfield celebrated with champagne.

Read more about the transformation of Gilbert and Busfield’s mountainside home in Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered by Gilbert.

The Real Reason Melissa Gilbert and Husband Timothy Busfield Moved to the Catskills

Kelsey Goeres — Sat, 06 May 2023 08:36:00 +0000

Little House on the Prairie alum Melissa Gilbert and husband Thirtysomething actor Timothy Busfield bought a cabin in the Catskills in 2019. Since then, Gilbert and Busfield have dedicated themselves to a slower, more natural lifestyle. They raise chickens, grow vegetables, and enjoy the quiet of the mountains. But why did they make such a drastic change?

Timothy Busfield and Melissa Gilbert | Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Initially, Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield wanted a second home

Though the “little house” in the Catskills is now the couple’s main place of residence, it started out as a vacation home for them to escape to when they wanted to leave the hustle and bustle of the city.

“We were living in New York City and wanted a second home where we could escape into peace, quiet, and nature,” Gilbert wrote in her 2022 book Back to the Prairie. “We wanted space to think and breathe and stillness to help us slow down. We wanted to recharge and feel inspired.”

Busfield was scrolling through Zillow one day in 2019 when he found the little cabin they now call home. Though, when he found it, it hardly looked inhabitable.

Gilbert and Busfield wanted to hide away from the ‘reasons the world is screwed’

“Admittedly, some of that life-is-getting-out-of-control mindset did contribute to our desire to find a place outside of the city,” she wrote.

Some of these reasons include: “Global warming, pandemics, uncompromising politicians, the end of democracy, conspiracy theories.”

But Gilbert and Busfield didn’t want to be too far from New York, where they both work. This made the Catskills the perfect location.

“We didn’t want to be more than two or three hours away by car in case one or both of us had to work, cracked a tooth, or craved sushi,” wrote Gilbert. “In that respect, we were kind of like kids learning to ride a two-wheeler bike, yelling at their parents, ‘Don’t let go! Don’t let go!’”

Eventually, though, they learned to lean into the mountain lifestyle and they did, in fact, allow their parents (New York) to let go.

Don’t call it a midlife crisis

Gilbert writes that she knows some people may look at how her life has changed in the past few years and call what she’s doing a midlife crisis. She doesn’t think it’s a crisis at all. But, rather, a shift in priorities that better align with her long-term happiness.

“[It’s] my realization that real satisfaction and meaning, for me, at fifty-six years old, came from canning tomatoes and cleaning the chicken coop rather than implants and hair color and other efforts to stop time from marching across my face,” she wrote.

If the Laura Ingalls actor could sum up the past few years in one word it would be “simplification.”

And she’s much happier living a simpler life. “This is what I’ve always wanted,” Gilbert told People of her new life. “I’m finally happy in my own skin,” she said. “I’m so grateful and relieved and so much happier.”

Here’s What ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Star Melissa Sue Anderson Is Doing Now

Kelsey Goeres — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 19:25:19 +0000

Mary Ingalls actor Melissa Sue Anderson grew up in the spotlight on Little House on the Prairie. She was on the wildly popular show for seven seasons and made guest appearances in the eight. But what is she doing today, all these years later?

Melissa Sue Anderson | Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls on ‘Little House on the Prairie’

Anderson got the role of Mary Ingalls when she was just 11 years old. But before that, she was no stranger to acting. She’d been in various commercials and had scored roles in shows like Bewitched and The Brady Bunch.

In Little House on the Prairie, she played the character of Mary, Laura’s older sister. In the books, Mary didn’t have much of a presence. But the TV show gave the character of Mary some more meat, which Anderson is thankful for.

“I’m lucky that there even was a character to play because, in the book, there isn’t much of one,” she told Pop Entertainment. “Laura [Ingalls] was a quite older woman when she wrote the books. She was remembering the best of her life. The characters of Ma and Mary didn’t factor in a lot. There was a lot of Laura and Pa and Laura and Jack the dog and Laura and Mr. Edwards, but there wasn’t a lot of Mary. I’m fortunate that they discovered that I could act.”

Mary was no easy role, either. In the fourth season, in the “I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away” episodes, Mary begins to lose her sight due to scarlet fever. Anderson went on to portray the character as blind. Mary eventually becomes a teacher and marries another blind teacher played by Linwood Boomer.

Anderson was even nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Leading Actress in a Drama Series for her role.

Melissa Sue Anderson, Lindsay or Sydney Greenbush, Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert from the TV series "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) ? pic.twitter.com/ZghI2Sfxr6
— Groovy History (@GroovyHistory) March 9, 2022

What Melissa Sue Anderson is up to now

On set of THE BRITS ARE COMING starring Uma Thurman and Tim Roth. pic.twitter.com/x68VoeZ58C
— Melissa Anderson (@MelissAnderson) August 7, 2015

In 2010, Anderson wrote a book about her time on Little House on the Prairie called The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House. She’s also done some acting since the show in such series and films as The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

According to IMDb, she hasn’t acted in anything since 2018, when she was on The Con is On as herself. Before that, she was in Veronica Mars in 2014.

On Twitter, her posts are mostly political, bringing attention to issues and causes she’s passionate about. Her bio reads: “Actress, author, mom, avid moviegoer, tennis-enthusiast and fitness-lover.”

These days, she seems to be enjoying her life with her family in Canada.

Melissa Sue Anderson took a break from acting

As an adult, Andersons put a pause on acting for several years.

“I really stepped away (from acting) for a long time,” she told E-Talk.”I was completely retired for five, six, seven years, and then I’ve done little tiny things since but that was really for the kids so they would have their own sense of who they were as opposed to being with me.”

To help with taking the focus off of her acting career, Anderson and her husband TV producer Michael Sloan decided to move to Canada with their children, Piper and Griffin.

“The whole family is Canadian now, and my husband and I had to take the test, and we studied and studied and studied.” She said.

Timothy Busfield on Wife Melissa Gilbert’s Transformation From Hollywood Starlet to ‘Natural Woman’

Kelsey Goeres — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 10:35:00 +0000

Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield just celebrated their ten-year wedding anniversary. They got married in 2013 in a private ceremony at San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara. Today, they live in a cabin in New York’s Catskill Mountains where they raise chickens and grow their own food in the garden. Between 2013 and now, Busfield has watched his wife morph into someone new. Someone he calls “a natural beauty” and “the amazing person she knew she was.”

Timothy Busfield and Melissa Gilbert | Lars Niki/Getty Images for BAM

How Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield met

The Emmy Award-winning actor met Gilbert at a bar shortly after his second divorce.

“That was my drill, at eight o’clock, there was a bar right across from Universal Studios that would open at eight and nobody would ever be in there. And then at 10 o’clock it would turn into a club,” he told People in 2022. “I would have the bar to myself for the first 45 minutes and I’d watch some sports and have a slice.”

He continued: “I remember so clearly grabbing pizza and then looking in the door to make sure there wasn’t a lot going on. There was one person sitting at the bar and she had a fedora on, and I couldn’t tell who it was, but I knew it was problematic. And it’d been about eight months. I hadn’t been on a date and I was so happy and I was spooning with my pillow and really enjoying going to bed, not involved in a relationship.”

Busfield changed his tune after chatting with Gilbert all night.

“I knew she was the one,” he said. “It felt so real.”

Timothy Busfield on watching his wife change through the years

10 years ago today. Happy Anniversary to my beloved! pic.twitter.com/fKtVkqiexc
— Melissa Gilbert (@MEGBusfield) April 24, 2023

Busfield penned the foreword for Gilbert’s 2022 memoir, Back to the Prairie. The former Little House on the Prairie actor’s book focuses on her move away from the rat race of Hollywood and into a slower, more natural way of life.

Of moving to the Catskills, Busfield writes:

“She traded her Rodeo Drive wardrobe for overalls. Her bright red hair returned to its roots, literally. Her face moved again: Her forehead was freed from captivity, and I could tell when she questioned something. I watched her shed the years of playing the Hollywood game of vanity and self-promotion as Melissa Gilbert the star and become Melissa Gilbert the woman—the natural woman.”

Melissa Gilbert is happy to be ‘Back to the Prairie’

I accept! #teenagedirtbagchallenge pic.twitter.com/OJinl66oGD
— Melissa Gilbert (@MEGBusfield) September 5, 2022

“This is what I’ve always wanted,” Gilbert told People of her new life.

In addition to slowing down and getting her hands dirty, the former Laura Ingalls is glad to be removed from the emphasis that Hollywood puts on outer beauty, particularly for women.

“I grew up in an industry that values the outside considerably more than the inside, and I was caught in that wheel of trying to stay young,” she said.

“I finally woke up and went, ‘What am I doing? I look like a carrot top, and I’m not happy,'” she continued. “My mindset was, ‘You have to stay thin. You have to be seen in the right places, wear the right shoes and drive the right car.’ That was so drilled into me by all the outside forces. But it never sat right.”

Today, she’s happier than she’s ever been, in the mountains with her husband, her chickens, her dog, and their cozy cabin.

“I’m finally happy in my own skin,” she said. “I’m so grateful and relieved and so much happier.”

What ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Star Melissa Gilbert is Up to Now

Kelsey Goeres — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 21:15:00 +0000

Melissa Gilbert began her acting career as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. She went on to star in a number of other series and films. But what is the Little House alum up to today? Well, she’s the co-founder of a lifestyle brand called Modern Prairie, and she’s living a slow, natural life away from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood.

Timothy Busfield and Melissa Gilbert | Lars Niki/Getty Images for BAM

Melissa Gilbert’s lifestyle brand, Modern Prairie

According to the Modern Prairie website, the brand is “centered around the modern, mature women and their needs, focusing on empowering them to regain their confidence through aging. As we age it can feel like a struggle to be seen and heard which can result in us feeling isolated or that we don’t belong. At Modern Prairie, we want to change that by creating a space where women can share their stories, ask questions and learn from each other.”

The site focuses on “relevant topics, activities and products from women, Modern Mavens, who have come from different backgrounds and life experiences – and have embraced their aging journeys. We will share their stories through the content on our site, virtual events and social media channels to give you an opportunity to engage directly.”

The site’s “shopping” tab and social media accounts share such products as prairie-inspired dresses to kitchenware, like a butter bell (“the Modern Prairie Secret to keeping your butter soft and spreadable”).

Melissa Gilbert’s podcast, The Knitty Gritty

The Knitty Gritty podcast is sponsored by Modern Prairie. Gilbert is the co-host, along with Susie Shubert. The podcast explores “all the good things and the wisdom and freedom that come with growing older. Okay, they may touch on some of the bad… and quite possibly the down-right ugly…after all, knit happens. No matter what–aging gratefully, unapologetically, with laughter, and celebrating it together is what matters most.”

Listeners can enjoy such episodes as “Inner Beauty Starts With a Good Bra” and “Getting to Know You: Friendships in Your 50s.” The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts.

The ‘Little House on the Prairie’ alum is enjoying a quiet life

Nearly 57 and 63. #DontLookYourAgeChallenge #nomakeup @TimBusfield pic.twitter.com/4LDVCEz3WO
— Melissa Gilbert (@MEGBusfield) March 26, 2021

After spending much of her life in Hollywood, Gilbert is happy to settle down in the country. In 2018, she and husband Timothy Busfield bought a cottage on 14 acres in New York’s Catskill Mountains. After a full renovation, they’re raising chickens and growing vegetables.

“I grew up in an industry that values the outside considerably more than the inside, and I was caught in that wheel of trying to stay young,” she told People in 2022.

Living in the country with her husband is just what the doctor ordered for Gilbert. “I’m so grateful and relieved and so much happier,” she said.

‘Little House on the Prairie’: Alison Arngrim Required a Stunt Person During a Certain Type of Scene

Kelsey Goeres — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:01:36 +0000

Nellie Oleson was much prissier than her early character foil, Laura Ingalls, on Little House on the Prairie. But she still knew her way around a horse barn. Alison Arngrim the actor, however, did not. In fact, Arngrim had a distinct fear of horses that required her to use a stunt girl anytime Nellie was supposed to be riding a horse.

Alison Arngrim as Nellie Oleson, Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder | NBCU Photo Bank

Alison Arngrim was scared of horses

Little House on the Prairie is a tough show to be on with a fear of horses. According to Arngrim, she’s “very much a city girl.”

“I still can’t ride a horse,” she told Fox. “I was hopeless with the animals and I avoided them… I was terrified of horses actually. Whenever you saw me on a horse, the rest was a stunt girl. If we’re shooting a scene that involved me just sitting on a horse, there would be four guys on the ground holding the horse’s reins so it wouldn’t move. That way I wouldn’t freak out and fall off. They needed to have that horse perfectly still.”

To make matters worse, Arngrim was aware that the horses were aware of her fear, which only made them more skittish.

“I felt bad for the horses because they just know when they have a rider who’s experienced and knows what they’re doing,” she said. “They also know when they have a rider who has no idea. And they don’t like it when you start panicking.”

However, in recent years, Arngrim has actually made a point to try and face her fear of horses.

“I have a friend who took me for horseback riding lessons a few years ago so I can finally get over this fear,” she said. “They got me the slowest horse in the place. It was very relaxed. At least they showed me how to sit and hold the reins correctly so I wouldn’t scare this poor horse.

Michael Landon also used a stand-in for horse-riding scenes

Hal Burton | NBCU Photo Bank

Michael Landon, who played Charles Ingalls, also sometimes used a stuntman, though for a different reason than Arngrim. Landon often directed Little House on the Prairie episodes, so when he needed to focus on directing duties, he’d use a horse-riding stand-in named Hal Burton. Landon could ride a horse, but he wasn’t a recreational horse rider by any means.

“I ride the horses on the show, but that’s about it,” he said during a 1971 interview with Betty White on Betty White’s Pet Set (Season 1 Episode 23).

Burton also acted as a stand-in for Landon whenever the riding required for the scene was dangerous.

Horseback riding wasn’t the only thing Alison Arngrim faked on ‘Little House on the Prairie’

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— Melissa Gilbert (@MEGBusfield) October 26, 2020

Nellie rode horses. She also had it out for Laura Ingalls. But Arngrim and Melissa Gilbert were actually quite close in real life.

“It’s funny, I think if you play enemies on set you end up becoming friends,” Arngrim said of her friendship with Gilbert. “We hit it off right away. We had slumber parties. We would visit each other’s houses on weekends — people couldn’t believe it.”

They’re still friends to this day.

“People still assume that we hate each other,” she said. “But we’re very much friends. We text and talk all the time. Some of us stay in touch on social media… The cast has become a family. We check in on each other all the time.”