Crime
Melissa Gilbert Spoke About Child Sex Abuse Before Husband Timothy Busfield’s Arrest Warrant
Weeks before The West Wing actor Timothy Busfield was accused of child sexual abuse, his wife, Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert, shared an Instagram post about the subject, reported People.
On November 15, the former child star, now 61, opened up about her time on the set of the beloved television show based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The post was a response to an episode of Megyn Kelly’s Sirius XM show in which the host discussed whether convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was truly a pedophile because he “liked 15-year-old girls” and “wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds.”
Gilbert shared photos of herself at age 15 with a caption explaining that, looking back, she is “actually nauseated” that she had to kiss a significantly older actor as part of the show. “Through the lens of today, this is shocking,” she wrote in part. “I have no words other than to say, ’I WAS A CHILD.’ ‘I WAS FIFTEEN.’ And I was the good news.”
Busfield, 68, is charged with one count of child abuse and two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor under the age of 13. A warrant for his arrest was issued by the Albuquerque Police Department on January 9. The charges stem from incidents which allegedly occurred on the set of the television series The Cleaning Lady between November 2022 and the spring of 2024. TMZ reported that the investigation began in November 2024, and that authorities have not yet taken Busfield into custody.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
