Why Little House On The Prairie child star Melissa Gilbert fled LA: ‘It’s not over’

Little House On The Prairie star Melissa Gilbert has explained why she left Hollywood - and immediately had her decision vindicated.

Picture: Supplied

Melissa Gilbert left Hollywood in 2013 and hasn’t looked back since.

The Little House on the Prairie star, 60, tells Page Six in an exclusive interview that she left Los Angeles for New York City because it was “so anti-ageing.”

“I just didn’t feel like that was a safe place for me to age. It’s so anti-ageing, which is one of my least favourite expressions in the world,” she says. “Anti-ageing means dead.”

Melissa Gilbert left Hollywood in 2013 and hasn’t looked back since. Picture: Instagram/@officialmodernprairie

Gilbert explains that, while living in California, she felt pressured to conform and “not get any older and stay a size 2 or 4 or whatever [she] was at that time,” Page Six reports.

However, following her cross-country move, she says that her mentality about ageing immediately changed.

“I went from, ‘Oh God, I better not get older!’ to ‘Oh God, I’m so glad I’m older!’” she says. “I love the age I am right now. Sixty has been the most incredible year, just to look back on all the things I’ve done and to know that I’ve earned my opinions, I have value, I am wise.

“I have done so much and I continue to do it and it’s not over by any stretch of the imagination.”

The actress, who rose to fame in “Little House on the Prairie,” said she felt pressured to “not get any older and stay a size 2 or 4 or whatever [she] was at that time.” Picture: Alamy

Though the actress is now happily settled in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighbourhood in New York with her husband, Timothy Busfield, she still has a lot of love for LA.

“I did not realise the depth of love that I have for my hometown until the wildfires,” she points out, referencing the Pacific Palides blaze that started on January 7, 2025.

“I just didn’t feel like that was a safe place for me to age,” the 60-year-old actress said. Picture: Instagram/@officialmodernprairie

“The amount of people I know who have lost everything, and not movie stars and television stars.

“It’s devastating and I do love so much about Los Angeles. It just wasn’t the right place for me to live in any longer but it will always be my hometown.”

As for her career, the “Dancing With The Stars” alum is getting ready to star opposite “Mad Men” star Mark Moses in the off-Broadway play “Still.”

Melissa Gilbert and her husband Timothy Busfield. Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The drama follows a couple who reunites after 30 years to see “if they can rekindle this relationship now despite the fact that they are political, polar opposites.”

The Prairie Tale author confesses she pulled inspiration for her role from her real life as she had differing politics from her ex-husbands, Bo Brinkman (1988-1994) and Bruce Boxleitner (1995-2011).

“That did become untenable and it was before 2016 when things got even more heated,” she shares, referencing President Trump’s first term in office.

“I will say that both of those times when I was single again, there was a weight that was lifted and a peace that filled my home because I didn’t have to clamp down on my opinion or not start an argument because I disagreed.”

Meanwhile, Gilbert has a busy schedule ahead with a role in the Hallmark series When Calls the Heart and Modern Prairie, an apparel and decor company targeted at older women.

Still begins performances Febuary 6, 2025.

This article originally appeared on Page Six and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Why Little House On The Prairie child star Melissa Gilbert fled LA: ‘It’s not over’