Melissa Gilbert's Miscarriage Early In Life Overshadowed Both Her Marriages As She Battled Addiction

Dec 15, 2021

"Little House on the Prairie" is an iconic show that ran from 1974 until 1982. Perhaps most famous from the cast is Michael Landon, who first shot to fame on the western series "Bonanza." 

Adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of books, the show revolves around the Ingalls family, who live on a rural farm in Minnesota in the late 1800s. Landon played the patriarch of the Ingalls family, while one of the other best-known actors from the show, Melissa Gilbert, played his daughter, who was based on Laura Ingalls Wilder herself.

For fans of the show, Gilbert was but a young girl of 10 when "Little House on the Prairie" first started, and since it went on for nearly a decade, the public really got to see her grow up before their eyes. After the show ended, Gilbert continued to act, mostly appearing in television films. 

Outside of her professional life, the child star was unlucky in love, finding herself married and divorced two times. Her first marriage was to Bo Brinkman in 1988. They were together until 1992. Then Gilbert moved on and married Bruce Boxleitner in 1995. They had a long marriage but eventually divorced in 2011. In 2013, she married Timothy Busfield and they are still happy together to this day. 

Before all of her marriages, Gilbert was engaged to fellow actor Rob Lowe. In 1986 he asked her to marry him, but backed out when he found out she was pregnant. Gilbert ended up losing the baby as well, and all of her grief pushed her to abuse alcohol. Keep reading to learn more about the actress's love for Busfield and how she recovered from her addiction.

Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield recounted their sweet love story to M Live back in 2019. Busfield explains that one day he was heading to his local bar to get a slice of pizza and a beer and watch sports on the TV, knowing the venue would be empty. He recalls what happened next:

"So I walked in the front door, and there was one person, sitting in my chair, at the bar …. It was like when Indiana Jones sees snakes in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and says, 'Why does it have to be snakes?' Because my first thought was, 'I haven't been on a date in 6 months, I'm just working and not dating, I really don't want to date anyone right now.'"

Like Gilbert, Busfield had also been married twice before, so the prospect of dating again wasn't at the top of his mind. But having known Gilbert for about two decades, Busfield clearly had an inkling that this moment meant something. He continues: 

"So I sort of talked to myself for a moment, and then I went in, sat at the bar, and ordered a drink. Then I saw her smile and I was gone." 

Clarifying that she doesn't usually "just sit in bars alone," Gilbert had actually been out with her best friend when the bar they were originally going to go to was closed, leading them to sit in the other bar until the one they wanted to go to opened. Gilbert's friend had left his cell phone at her place, so while he went back to retrieve it, she stayed alone.

This is when Busfield struck up a conversation and they hit it off. 

Before she had met Busfield or any of her previous husbands, Gilbert was engaged to Rob Lowe when she was just 17. "I fell instantly, hopelessly and stupidly in love," she wrote in her book "Prairie Tale." "We went from first date to instant couple. I felt like I was starving for Rob." This love only grew when he asked Gilbert to marry him in 1986. 

Sadly, the relationship did not last. "We broke up. It ran its course. I think we were just too young," Gilbert explained. Part of the issue was that when Gilbert told Lowe that she was pregnant he panicked and said he wasn't ready to be a father or a husband. 

Later, Gilbert had a miscarriage and had to shoulder all of that pain on her own. She shared, "I had lost my baby and my relationship with Rob... and it hurt like hell."

Looking back she can forgive Lowe, but it caused her a great amount of suffering at the time. "It was very, very painful. It was a very dark and difficult time for me … Now that I have children that are his age — my older boys are 28 and 23, the age he was when we were together — I understand it. But at the time it was devastating," Gilbert said. 

To ease her pain, Gilbert drank to the point that she would pass out. She continued to do this all through her marriage with Brinkman and it was while she was with Boxleitner that she realized she truly had a problem. So, Gilbert found a therapist and began attending Alcoholics Anonymous, and with a lot of hard work, she got her life back. 

What do you think of Gilbert's battle with addiction? Did you know she had a miscarriage? Let us know and be sure to pass this on to the "Little House on the Prairie" fans in your life.