Karen Grassle Had ‘Difficulties’ In Having Biological Child But Came To Love Her ‘Destiny’ To Adopt

Mar 18, 2022

“Little House on the Prairie” is one show that always manages to take you back to the good old days. It was a very successful TV series, running from September 1974 to May 1982, that helped launch the careers of many of its stars, including Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson, Michael Landon and Karen Grassle. Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House” book series, the show had a long run as it resonated with many of its fans and to this day is still very popular despite being off the air for several decades.

On the show, Grassle played the family matriarch named Caroline Ingalls, also commonly referred to as “Ma.” The show featured the everyday challenges of raising a lovely family in a stressful environment. Caroline and her husband Charles, played by Landon, entertained viewers with their parenting skills, and most actors in the cast became household names due to the popularity of the series. 

Once Grassle left the series in 1982, it ran with a new title: “Little House: A New Beginning.” Many of Grassle’s fans wonder what happened to her after the show ended. Luckily, she never slowed down and continues to be a successful actress in Hollywood. 

Grassle opened up more about her personal life behind the scenes of being a celebrity and spoke about the struggles she faced. While many people came to love her as the mother on “Little House on the Prairie,” Grassle moved away from the screen to focus more on becoming a mother in real life, even though it came with some complications.

Grassle was born on Feb. 25, 1942, in Berkeley, California. It’s no surprise that acting took a prominent place in her life even at an early age and through to adulthood as she loved performing in school plays, according to Biography.com. In 1965, she graduated from college with a degree in dramatic arts and English.

Grassle went on to find success on Broadway before ultimately finding her way to “Little House on the Prairie.” According to Amo Mama, she quickly developed a motherly relationship with many of her younger castmates, fully immersing herself into the matriarchal role. She made sure to spend time developing a real relationship with them so they would feel more comfortable during their scenes together. Grassle told Closer Weekly that she “based” her character as Ma off her own mother, infusing her mother’s “character, strength and wisdom” into her character.

As lovely as her life was on-screen, it was the exact opposite in her real life. Speaking to the New York Post, Grassle revealed that in the 1960s and 1970s, she was "a self-hating addict who tottered on the brink of despair." She struggled with alcohol addiction and would "get horribly drunk and would sob, cry and carry on. I’d feel like everything in my life was wrong."

She also penned a memoir about her life titled  “Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma” in which she delved further into her life story.

Grassle’s personal life was filled with plenty of ups and downs. She was married three times throughout her life. She first was married to actor Leon Russom from 1966 to 1970. Afterward, she was married to James Alan Radford from 1982 to 1987.

According to Closer Weekly, the couple adopted two children during this time, named Zachary and Lily. Radford also had three children from a previous relationship.

While Grassle had yearned to have children of her own, there had been some complications. “We wanted to have a child and we’d been having some difficulties,” she explained. “We were on the verge of beginning fertility treatment and started contacting people we knew about adoption.” Once Grassle and Radford found someone looking for a couple to adopt her child, they knew it was “destiny.”

Even though Grassle and Radford’s marriage didn’t last, they remained on good terms and raised their children together following their divorce. Afterward, Grassle went on to marry Dr. Scott Sutherland, and they were together from 1991 until 1997. However, not much about their relationship was very publicized.

Grassle also spoke with Closer Weekly about how her priorities changed after her run on “Little House on the Prairie.” She found herself being typecast in Hollywood, but did her best to embrace the motherly role in a different way. Grassle explained:

“Yeah, a lot of scripts were sent to me with people who wore a bun. I did (have trouble getting roles after), but my priorities shifted because I wanted to have a family, so I was putting less energy into acting than I was into figuring out how to be a stepmom and have a child.”

As someone who played a motherly role for so long, it makes sense that Grassle’s true mothering skills would be compared to Ma’s. Grassle explained, “That show was an idealized version of family life. But I did the best I could. Much of the time I was a single mom, and that has its own challenges, (yet) I love so much about being a mom.”

What do you think about Karen Grassle sharing her experience as a mom both on and off screen? Let us know, and be sure to send this along to your loved ones.