Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield have been married since 2013 after every having longstanding careers in Hollywood.
“Our enterprise in Los Angeles may be very tough as a result of it’s in all places in that metropolis [and] everyone’s concerned in it indirectly,” Gilbert, greatest identified for starring as Laura Ingalls on The Little Home on the Prairie, mentioned throughout a 2019 interview on Higher Connecticut. “There’s a very unusual exterior stress to look a sure manner.”
Gilbert continued, “[When] I met Tim, he mentioned he was residing in Michigan, and I mentioned, ‘Take me.’ I used to be simply achieved. I needed to age.”
Gilbert was beforehand married to Bo Brinkman from 1998 to 1994 and Bruce Boxleitner, with whom the actress shares two kids, from 1995 to 2011.
Busfield, for his half, was married to Radha Delamarter from 1981 to 1986 and Jenny Merwin from 1988 to 2007. The West Wing actor shares son Wilson with Delamarter, in addition to two youthful kids with Merwin.
Amid the pair’s 13-year marriage, information broke in January 2016 that an arrest warrant was issued for Busfield after allegations of kid intercourse abuse. Weeks earlier than the warrant was issued, Gilbert spoke out about little one intercourse abuse and her expertise being a 15-year-old little one star sharing an onscreen romance with a then-23-year-old actor.
Preserve scrolling for Gilbert and Busfield’s relationship timeline:
2012
Gilbert and Busfield began relationship after they met in a bar in Los Angeles.
“I bear in mind so clearly grabbing pizza after which wanting within the door to ensure there wasn’t lots happening,” Busfield recalled to Individuals in 2022. “There was one individual sitting on the bar and he or she had a fedora on, and I couldn’t inform who it was.”
Busfield subsequently launched himself to Gilbert, they usually spoke all through the night.
“I knew she was the one. It felt so actual,” he advised the outlet.
December 2012
Us Weekly broke the information in January 2013 that Busfield proposed to Gilbert through the holidays.
“They’ve identified one another for fairly a while, as their paths have crossed off-and-on over the previous 20 years,” a supply advised Us.
April 2013
The 2 actors tied the knot in a personal ceremony at San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara, California, the place Gilbert wore a purple wedding ceremony gown.
“It was fairly a search. The second I noticed it, I knew … and the colour spoke volumes,” Gilbert advised Individuals of her crimson bridal robe. “Ardour, hearth, love: Purple says all of these issues to me. The gown will all the time maintain our valuable, valuable reminiscences.”
After getting married, Gilbert moved in with Busfield in his native Michigan.
2018
The pair traded Michigan for New York Metropolis.
“It grew to become vital for us to have a spot the place we may escape,” Gilbert advised The New York Instances in January 2019 of buying fixer-upper in upstate New York. “his is a kind of locations that most individuals would say, ‘Are you nuts?’ in case you expressed curiosity in shopping for it. Tim and I are the perfect form of nuts. We’re hopeful visionaries. We knew this home would shelter us nicely and serve us nicely.”
March 2020
Gilbert and Busfield debuted their eponymous “Gilbert & Busfield” podcast amid the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. They in the end recorded 18 episodes, recapping their life collectively and sharing memorable Hollywood anecdotes.
Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield along with her two children in December 2025. Courtesy of Melissa Gilbert/ Instagram
January 2026
Us confirmed on January 9 that New Mexico authorities issued an arrest warrant after Busfield was accused of kid sexual abuse. Busfield was not instantly arrested and claimed in an investigation interview that it was “extremely unlikely” he had any bodily contact with the accusers.
Elsewhere within the warrant obtained by Us, a police officer claimed that Busfield and Gilbert revealed they did have “a relationship” with the alleged victims and their households and as soon as bought them Christmas presents.
Gilbert has not publicly addressed the warrant or her relationship with the accusers. Lower than two months earlier, the actress did share a social media submit calling little one sexual abuse “disgusting.”
For those who or somebody you understand has been sexually assaulted, contact the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). For those who or somebody you understand is experiencing little one abuse, name or textual content Youngster Assist Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
