“Little House on the Prairie” was a beloved TV series that captured our hearts in the ’70s and ’80s and ran for 9 seasons.
And who could forget Laura, who we viewers followed through childhood right through to when she was grown up with her own children!
“Little House on the Prairie” follows Laura’s life, and director Michael Landon succeeded in showing both individual family life and the relationships in a small community. This led to the show being warmly received by audiences around the world.
Even today it’s winning new fans, thanks to reruns around the world. I think it’s because the themes of the series are so timeless.
It’s been 34 years since the last episode was recorded, and the actors still gather for reunions when they can. “Laura”, who was played by Melissa Gilbert, has acted in several films since then, but has never had a bigger role than her break-through role in “Little House on the Prairie.”
Here’s what the former child star is up to today.
Little House on the Prairie was a beloved TV series that captured our hearts in the ’70s and ’80s and ran for 9 seasons.
And who could forget Laura, who we viewers followed through childhood right through to when she was grown up with her own children!
Little House on the Prairie follows Laura’s life, and director Michael Landon succeeded in showing both individual family life and the relationships in a small community. This led to the show being warmly received by audiences around the world.
Even today, it’s winning new fans, thanks to reruns around the world. I think it’s because the themes of the series are so timeless.
It’s been 39 years since the last episode was recorded, and the actors still gather for reunions when they can. ‘Laura’ who was played by Melissa Gilbert, has acted in several films since then but has never had a bigger role than her breakthrough role in Little House.
Here’s what the former child star is up to today:
Here are Melissa Gilbert and Alison Arngrim as Laura and Nellie at the time the show aired:
Viewers followed Laura through her whole life – from childhood to building her own family. After the series was aired, Melissa appeared in a musical, where she played the matriarch of the family.
These days, Melissa has left the glitz and glam of Hollywood behind in favor of a quieter, more peaceful life with her husband, Tim Busfield.
But she’s still marked by her spell in the beloved show, and life in the movie industry hasn’t been as kind to the 58-year-old actress.
After a successful start to her career, Melissa Gilbert has tried to fit in with the beauty ideals that have passed through Hollywood throughout the years. She felt huge pressure to look and act a certain way and turned to plastic surgery throughout the years to try and tackle it.
But now she’s stopped that – and feels like a whole new person!
“There’s this mentality in Hollywood of not allowing women to age or gain weight or to simply be themselves,” she tells First For Women.
“I went down the road that everyone else does—nose job, boob job, fillers and Botox, but no more! I had my breast implants removed and I’m no longer doing fillers or Botox because I’m a 53-year-old woman and I’m trying to embrace this process of aging,” she says.
Now she wants to embrace aging naturally!
She tells the magazine how she’s doing today:
“Right now I’m physically pain-free and relatively healthy and strong,” says “Laura” from Little House on the Prairie, who has since had roles in shows such as Nip/Tuck, The Diary of Anne Frank and Choices of Heart, but hasn’t appeared on screen in the last 10 years.
However, she did appear in Dancing with the Stars in 2012, and she’s also written a book about Little House on the Prairie.
Gilbert is now 58 and became a grandmother for the first time last summer — and in recent years has left Hollywood for rural life in the Catskills.
The 58-year-old told Good Morning America that she had to leave Los Angeles in order to “actually age.”
“I had to get out of Los Angeles to actually age, which I wanted to do,” she said. “I’m excited about this. I love all these changes and watching what’s happening and getting to know this new person.”
Gilbert and her husband, Tim Busfield, tied the knot in 2013 before bidding farewell to Hollywood so that they could move to “a very rural part of Michigan.”
Gilbert also said that her relationship with Busfield is one that brings plenty of laughter and joy.
“We laugh all day long. We constantly crack each other up,” she said. “He’s one of the funniest people I know. I mean, he will walk into a door just to make me laugh.”
The Little House star also said that her hubby calls her “Half-Pint” – a nickname Laura Ingalls Wilder had on the show – from time to time.
Little House on the Prairie will always be one of my favorite shows, and Laura Ingalls Wilder was certainly one of my favorite characters.
It just feels like they don’t make TV shows like they used to anymore, so I’m thankful for the memories the old classics gave me.
Are you fan of Melissa Gilbert? Let us know in the comments box on Facebook. Meanwhile, share this article so that your friends and family can enjoy it to.
