Most infants don their first onesie and get whisked away to a cozy crib, but not this future star. No, she was handed over to foster parents faster than you can say ‘lights, camera, action!’
Imagine, because their jobs were their real babies, her birth parents were like, ‘We’d love to raise you, but our schedules are packed!’ And thus, she ended up with Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert, who, shocker, had zero plans of adopting that day.
This unexpected twist happened when they got a call about a baby girl born on May 8, 1964, at the now-defunct French Hospital in Los Angeles. Barbara and Paul, who already had a son (also adopted), said yes. And just like that, she was theirs.
The dynamic between her adoptive parents was a tale of Hollywood highs and lows. Barbara, an actress whose career had fizzled out, and Paul, a stand-up comedian, actor, and dancer, divorced when she was six. Paul was remembered fondly by his daughter as a ‘brilliant, energetic, humorous, loving, and fair person.’
Sadly, Paul passed away in 1976, and rumors swirled he had a stroke. The truth about her adoption started to unfold when the celebrity penned “Prairie Tale: A Memoir.”
In the memoir, she wrote that she was initially told her biological father was a Rhodes Scholar, and her mother a prima ballerina. Wrong! Her biological mom was indeed a dancer, but her dad was a stock car racer-slash-sign painter. Talk about missing the mark!
Kathy and David (the bio-parents) already had a Brady Bunch worth of children from previous marriages when they had her—seventh heaven wasn’t financially viable. So, off to adoption she went.
Not Exactly a Plan
Dig this. When her adoptive dad Paul died, her godmother Mitzi spilled the beans that they never even planned on adopting. Judith, her mom was like, ‘Honey, we were so shocked ourselves when you came home!’ Imagine finding out you were an unplanned surprise of the highest order.
So, what happened when they received “the call” about her? Barbara called her husband who was out of state, and he said, ‘Go get it.’ It—a baby girl, no name yet. Even then, they were trying fertility treatments, but adoption wasn’t on their radar until fate dialed their number.
All these family secrets wrapped up in pretty silos start emerging in her interviews. In a 2020 chat with CBS Sunday Morning, she shared she had been lied to about her dad’s death cause. At 11, she thought it was a stroke. At 45? Suicide. Talk about emotional whiplash.
She discovered through detective work that her dad, a WWII vet, was in severe pain, which led him to take his own life. It took her six months to grapple with this, but she channeled her grief into supporting mental health and suicide awareness.
The Reveal
So, who is this enigmatic star who debuted as Laura ‘Half-Pint’ Ingalls Wilder on “Little House on the Prairie”? None other than Melissa Gilbert!
Despite being handed a rough start in the game of life, Melissa turned the tables and became a household name. She shared her life’s ups and downs in her 2022 memoir, “Back to the Prairie,” and is now living out her best chapter yet.
With husband number three, Timothy Busfield, Melissa has a bustling family life that includes eight grandchildren. The love story here has all the hallmarks of a rom-com—Busfield spotted Melissa waiting for a friend in an empty pub in 2012. Fast forward to April 2013, and they were married in a sweet and intimate ceremony in Santa Barbara, California.
Melissa also has two sons from previous marriages—Dakota Paul Brinkman and Michael Garrett Boxleitner. Busfield, a father of three, and Melissa now live in a charming 14-acre cottage in the Catskill Mountains, New York. A life far removed from Hollywood’s blaring lights, filled with peace, much-needed quiet, and, presumably, no more surprise adoption calls.
Through hardships, untold truths, and eventual healing, Melissa Gilbert stands as a testament to resilience and the power of forging one’s own destiny.
