Melissa Gilbert Lives The Life She "Always Wanted" In Catskills Cottage After "Dark And Difficult" Times In Her Life

May 24, 2022 by apost team

Melissa Gilbert first graced the screen as Laura Ingalls in the historical Western "Little House on the Prairie." The series, which is based on an autobiographical children's book by American writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder, relayed the adventures and everyday life of a pioneer family. The tales of the Ingalls' Plum Creek farm so charmed audiences, particularly leaving an impression on young girls, that Gilbert was honored with a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1985 when she was only 21. While Gilbert would go on to star in other shows, a part of the prairie always remained with her. 

After decades in Hollywood, Gilbert relocated in 2018 to a similarly remote cottage in the Catskill Mountains- a move perhaps fueled by her memories of the Ingalls. She renovated the old hunting cabin with her husband, Timothy Busfield. The two had met in 2012 in an empty bar after having weathered their own separate heartbreaks and instantly hit it off. When recalling the special moment, Busfield said, "I saw her smile and I was gone." The couple wed in April 2013 and have "been inseparable since," now sharing a quiet, rustic life together on their 14-acre property. 

However, prior to achieving this centered, down-to-earth lifestyle, the fifty-eight-year-old Gilbert first experienced years of both success, setbacks, triumphs, and hardships as she tried to establish herself as an actress in tinsel town. Her journey included spinal surgery, young love, sobriety, and other challenges, which Gilbert opened up about in her 2009 memoir, "Prarie Tale."

After her years of inspiring children from the Prarie, Gilbert continued to play strong figures, such as Anne Frank in "The Diary of Anne Frank" and Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker." While she saw recognition for her talents on screen, Gilbert struggled in her personal life, battling substance abuse, unfaithful boyfriends, and medical complications. However, looking back on her hardships, Gilbert said, "Everything, no matter how painful, led me to this place I am right now, which is really an amazing place to be." 

Her life in Hollywood had started softly. Recalling her time on set, Gilbert relayed, "By child-actor standards, mine was probably the best experience that you could have...I was the opposite of what you would expect a child star to be…I was the girl in the one-piece bathing suit with cotton pajamas over it and a hat, eating a baloney sandwich with mayonnaise dripping down my hand." 

However, Gilbert would not remain so sheltered. She suffered the loss of her father in 1973, finding a newfound father figure in costar Michael Landon, who already played her on-screen father on the Prarie. She even dated Landon's son, Michael Landon Jr. Then Gilbert met Rob Lowe and "fell instantly, hopelessly and stupidly in love." 

In her memoir, Gilbert wrote, "We went from first date to instant couple. I felt like I was starving for Rob." Despite rumors of infidelity, Lowe proposed in 1986. But, the couple would never make it down the aisle as they broke up after learning Gilbert was pregnant. 

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The engagement evaporated when Lowe told Gilbert he "wasn't ready to be a father — or a husband." Gilbert's pregnancy forced Lowe to reconsider. Afterward, Gilbert lost the pregnancy. Recalling that time, Gilbert said, "It was very, very painful. It was a very dark and difficult time for me … Now that I have children that are his age...I understand it. But at the time it was devastating." Gilbert struggled with alcohol abuse but managed to still find work, earning herself the title of "The Queen of the Made-for-TV Movies."

On her drinking, Gilbert recalled, "I don't know if [I] rebelled so much as tested the waters — swam against the waters. Drank the waters." Her behavior was perhaps exacerbated by her marriage to Bo Brinkman in 1988, not long after her split with Lowe. Gilbert realized later she had a problem and attended AA meetings as well as therapy to help her get sober. 

Through her troubles, Gilbert somehow always orbited the ol' Plum Creek farm. She reprised her role in a way when she starred as Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical "Little House on the Prairie" in 2009-2010. In her memoir, Gilbert revealed, "I still get letters from women...[who] say the one escape they had growing up was 'Little House on the Prairie.' They wished they had Laura Ingalls Wilder's life the way I played her." She continued, saying, "What I don't ever tell them is that I'm also among those who wish I had Laura's life the way I played her."

However, before she could return to the land from her dark waters, Gilbert first walked down the aisle a second time. She divorced Brinkman in 1994 and married Bruce Boxleitner. Both had children from their previous marriages and, for a time, formed a family unit together. Gilbert became pregnant with their son, Michael, in 1995. The couple remained married until 2011, when they divorced due to "irreconcilable differences." 

Then about a year later, Gilbert met her now-husband, Timothy Busfield. On finally connecting with someone she feels she's meant to be with, Gilbert said, "The depth of understanding, compassion, and kindness in this man blows me away. And oh, how we laugh! How blessed I am. How grateful." Her marriage to Busfield is part of what led Gilbert to eventually leave California for the quiet, country life. 

After they wed, Busfield asked Gilbert to move to his home state of Michigan with him. Unphased by the sudden shift in surroundings, Gilbert agreed. Their home was a fusion of both their lives, having been furnished with a few pieces of memorabilia from "Little House on the Prarie," such as Michael London's fiddle and Gilbert's red dress. Gilbert said they were "starting over" in Brighton, where they had "a 3-story log house on 25 acres in the woods." On that first relocation, she gushed, "I went back to the big woods."

The couple then truly shed the Hollywood life and moved into even deeper woods, taking on their cabin-turned-dream-home in New York State. At the serene cottage, Gilbert found she had the space to keep chickens and grow vegetables as well as raise a new puppy named Chicago. Reflecting on her mountainside life, Gilbert said, "This is what I've always wanted." 

Would you follow in Gilbert's footsteps and move to a remote Catskills cottage? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends, family, and "Little House on the Parie" fans!