‘Little House On The Prairie’ Star Addresses Husband’s Heinous Charges
Actress Melissa Gilbert gave her first interview since her husband, fellow actor Timothy Busfield, was accused of child sexual abuse. The “Little House on the Prairie” star has made it clear she is standing by her husband amid his legal troubles.
Gilbert explained her stance to George Stephanopoulos on Monday’s episode of “Good Morning America.”
“I know this man in my bones,” she said during the interview. “No one knows him better than I do. I know literally everything about him. Our marriage has had a lot of ups and downs, we’ve been through our struggles, we’ve had our own issues to deal with, and we’ve worked through everything.”
Gilbert added, “He is nothing if not completely honest with me. I trust him with my children’s lives, I trust him with my grandchildren’s lives, my nieces and nephews. He is an honorable, caring, generous human being.”
Busfield stands accused of sexually assaulting twin boys beginning when they were 7 years old. The actor worked with the child actors, born in 2014, on the set of “The Cleaning Lady,” which aired on Fox from 2022 to 2025. Busfield directed some episodes and was named an executive producer.
One of the boys identified in court documents as “SL” told Albuquerque Police Officer Marvin Brown that Busfield touched his “penis and buttocks, masking it as play” more than once. The alleged abuse is said to have started with the boys when they were 7 years old, The Daily Wire previously reported.
An investigation began in November 2024 when a University of New Mexico Hospital doctor reported his suspicions of sexual abuse and grooming to authorities. Investigators initially didn’t press charges, but the case was reopened in September 2025 when one of the boys reported the alleged abuse to his doctor.
Gilbert told “GMA” that no matter how the trial goes, she believes her life is over and that Busfield’s reputation is forever ruined.
“Our life as we knew it is done. We are grieving what we had. All of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects,” the actress said. “For Tim, it’s done. He’s canceled … even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy. The last person in the world who would hurt a child.”
Gilbert also insisted that if she had any inkling that her husband was a predator, she would not forgive him.
“Believe me, if I thought for a second that Tim Busfield hurt a child, he’d have a lot more to worry about than prison,” she said during the same interview.
She said past allegations of sexual misconduct did not phase her prior to their marriage in April 2013. Busfield faced two previous sexual assault allegations in 1994 and 2012, but was never charged.
“When Tim and I got together, the internet existed. I didn’t go into my relationship blind. I’m neither naive nor am I complicit,” she said. “I talked to him about it. I asked him questions about it. I heard his side of the story — which nobody has ever heard — which is the truth. And when the time is right, and that is not now, Tim will tell the truth of all of these past allegations when he needs to.”
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