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After Melissa Gilbert’s biological father saw her on TV, he knew the young actress was his child.
The former child star, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder in “The Little House of Prairie,” recently appeared on a podcast by her co-star Patrick Labyroux. “Patrick Rabjorseau.” She explained that it was like coming into contact with her birth father after welcoming her son, Dakota in 1989.
“I didn’t tell him who I was, and he asked me, ‘Well, who are you? What will you do?” Gilbert recalled.
Melissa Gilbert starred as Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder in “The Little House of Prairie.” (Ted Shepherd/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images)
“And I said, ‘Well, here it is… Have you ever seen a little house on the grassland?” And he said, ‘You’re Laura, right?’ He knew it. ”
“He could see,” the 61-year-old shared. “And when I met my half-brother, we all looked the same. So you definitely could see it…it’s pretty clear.”
Adopted Labyorteauxsaid he had a similar experience. Like Gilbert, his birth mother died before she could find her.
Patrick Rabyroux as Andrew “Andy” Garvey in “The Little House of Prairie.” (Ted Shepherd/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images)
“I had never met her, but I met her family. She was a family in-law,” the actor explained. “She had three children who were married from her husband. So she had three children, but they only had one biological child. They saw the ‘little house’ and when I showed up, for my eyes, they said, ‘Oh, that’s probably your child’ And they’d tease her like that… they were right. ”
Gilbert was hired by actors Barbara Cowan and Paul Gilbert. Her biological parents were also involved in entertainment. According to the star, her birth mother was an exotic dancer, and her father was a stock car racer and musician.
“It was pretty clear that it was within me,” Gilbert said in pursuit of showbiz. “…All kids are performers on both sides of that family. So it was genetic and environmental.”
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Melissa Gilbert spoke about her reunion with her birth parents on a Patrick Rabijak podcast. “Patrick Rabjölsey. ” (Pascal le segretain/getty images)
“they were Each married another person And each had three kids, and we ran away together and imagined me on a motorcycle trip in the desert,” she said. And they married leaving a spouse for each other [getting] I was seventh because I pregnant with me and moved all my kids. So the decision was made to raise me for adoption. ”
Melissa Gilbert described the set of “Little House on the Prairie” as a development set for all child actors. Michael Landon himself was the father of nine children. (Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images)
As Gilbert grew older, she was eager to discover her roots.
“When I saw it [my son Dakota] “Oh my god, he had my eyebrows, he had my lips, and I’ve never seen anyone look like me,” he went for the first time. Gilbert said.
After becoming a mom, Melissa Gilbert wanted to learn more about her roots. (Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
Her family background was not the only thing Gilbert faced after the “small house” was over.
On the podcast, she explained that as an adult, many fans still hoped she would become Laura Ingalls.
“That was strange,” admitted Gilbert. “I still think I was always hoping that a 12-year-old would bring a fishing rod with me, almost in my 40s. [and in] gingham. And that felt like a weakness to me at the time. ”
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Melissa Gilbert said that even adults, some fans view her as her character, Laura Ingalls. (NBCU Photobank/Getty Images)
Gilbert said it was a “shocking factor” when he realized that people were “a real adult with smart and job opinions and ideas.”
For her, having an identity outside of Hollywood was important.
“[As child actors] We grew up in a supershelter and don’t know how to do things like washing dishes. [be] It was very overexposed and misused,” she said.
Gilbert added that the second group is a group suffering from “big problems.”
See: Child’s Star in “Little House on the Prairie” says the set was like “Mad Men”
So at 22 years old, She moved to New York City It will be displayed in off-Broadway play.
“I was 22 years old and lived on my own in New York City with a cat and a dog, and I wasn’t entirely prepared to live on my own, totally,” she said.
“…I had to find a way to do more than I had no clue,” she shared. “For example, I didn’t realize you could break a $100 bill with a bodega, and you didn’t have to go to the bank. That’s such a small thing… At some point, [I] Let’s stack the plates badly in my sink. There was no dishwasher so I threw them down and bought new dishes. About my $700 per week salary at that point. ”
As an adult, Melissa Gilbert went under the knife. However, once she left Los Angeles, the actress felt that she could age gracefully. (Reuters)
Still, Gilbert remembers growing up on the set of “Little House.”
“Our set was as child-friendly as the set could be at that point,” she said. “Even though all adult shenanigans were on the way, we were protected from many of them. We didn’t know half of what adults were doing until they wrote a book about it.”
In 2024, Gilbert told Fox News Digital that he had to eventually leave Los Angeles and age gracefully.
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Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (left) and Melissa Gilbert as Allison Arnglam as Nelly Oleson. (NBCU Photobank/Getty Images)
“I looked at myself in the mirror a few years ago,” the 61-year-old recalled. “I lived in Los Angelesand I didn’t realize who I was. I overbuilt my face and lips. My forehead didn’t move. I was still dyeing my hair red. I was driving a Mustang Convertible. I was size 2 in an unhealthy way. I looked like a frozen version of my younger self, but that’s not who I was. ”
Melissa Gilbert was portrayed in 2012. (Cindiode/Getty Images)
“I was stuck,” admitted Gilbert. “I could feel myself fighting it, and I told myself, ‘It’s time to get older.’ I had to leave Los Angeles and be specific, not Hollywood. ”
Gilbert said she and her husband, actor Timothy Basfield, have moved. To his hometown in Michigan After the 2013 wedding.
Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Basfield married in 2013. (Pascal le segretain/getty images)
They lived there for five years. She felt free to eventually get older.
“I stopped coloring my hair,” she explained. “I had it [my] The breast implants have been removed. I decided to become the best healthy version of myself without looking at this pressure in a specific way.
Melissa Gilbert said she felt free to her skin. (Pascal le segretain/getty images)
“I finally found my feet as a woman who is 100% stronger in my knowledge and completely stronger in my achievements. Everything has become easier. And the bonus is that staring in the mirror, sitting in a dermatologist’s chair, or sitting in a hair chair, has more free time.”
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Melissa Gilbert, who is seen here with co-star Dean Butler, said she still has memories of bringing the beloved classic series to life. (Course of NBC TV/Getty Images)
In 2019, Gilbert and Basfield purchased a rustic cottage 14 acres of Mount Catskill. Life today has been “incredibly fulfilling,” she said.
“That’s amazing,” Gilbert erupted. “I love being this age. It’s not much fun about it. I don’t like it when my ankles hurt in the morning or when my skin gets dry. Aging isn’t for the shishi, but it certainly is better than the alternative.
