Melissa Gilbert spoke out about child sex abuse just weeks before her West Wing star husband's arrest warrant... as it's alleged she 'bought Christmas gifts for his victims'
Melissa Gilbert spoke out about child sex abuse on social media weeks before her husband, Timothy Busfield, was hit with an arrest warrant for allegedly touching two minors inappropriately.
Melissa Gilbert spoke out about child sex abuse on social media weeks before her husband, Timothy Busfield, was hit with an arrest warrant for allegedly touching two minors inappropriately on his TV show set.
Busfield, best known for portraying a journalist on The West Wing, is facing two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. Authorities say he engaged in illegal acts with 11-year-old twins.
On November 15, seven weeks before the charges against her husband, Gilbert reflected on her experience as a child actor The Little House on the Prairie.
As a teenager on that show, she filmed romantic scenes with a love interest played by Dean Butler, who is nine years older than her.
'So, I debated posting this but, I feel compelled to share. After seeing many women's posts with the hashtags #iwasfifteen #imfifteen #iwasachild, I decided to Google search myself at that age and see what came up. And this is some of what I found,' Gilbert, now 61, wrote in her caption of her Instagram post.
'And now, at this age, at this time, I am actually nauseated. The girl on vacation in Hawaii with her family, is the same girl who was expected to 'fall in love with' and kiss a man on film who was several years older than she was,' she continued, referring to working with Butler, who is now 69.
'Through the lens of today, this is shocking. I have no words other than to say , “I WAS A CHILD,”' Gilbert added. 'Thank God my mom and Michael and so many others were there to make sure I was safe. Can you imagine if I hadn’t had them all? I am so fortunate (Sort of). Many other young women aren’t.'
Glibert made the post in response to Megyn Kelly seemingly downplaying the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein by questioning whether he was even a pedophile.
Michelle Gilbert (pictured with her husband, Timothy Busfield, in 2023) spoke out about child sex abuse in an Instagram post seven weeks before Busfield was hit with an arrest warrant for allegedly touching two minors inappropriately
Gilbert posted this picture of herself when she was 15 years old to show how young she really was on the set of Little House on the Prairie. She was expected to film mature, romantic scenes with an actor much older than her, something she has a different outlook on today