Melissa Gilbert sat down for an interview with George Stephanopoulos of “Good Morning America” on Monday, April 6. During which, the “Little House on the Prairie” star admitted she knew of the criminal sexual allegations made about her husband, Timothy Busfield, before marrying him in 2013.
“I need to make something abundantly clear. These allegations have been out in the ether for a very long time,” Gilbert told Stephanopoulos.
Melissa Gilbert Admits She Knew of Husband’s Past Allegations
“When Tim and I got together, the internet existed. I didn’t go into my relationship blind. I’m neither naive nor am I complicit,” she continued. “I talked to him about it. I asked him questions about it. I heard his side of the story — which nobody has ever heard — which is the truth. And when the time is right, and that is not now, Tim will tell the truth of all of these past allegations when he needs to.”
Busfield was arrested on January 13 after he was accused of sexual abuse with a minor. A police officer from the Albuquerque Police Department cited “two separate” allegations in his warrant against Busfield, according to People. One of which was in 1994 and the other in 2012 — the latter being one year before Gilbert and Busfield tied the knot.
As Gilbert sat with her husband’s lawyer Larry Stein for the “GMA” interview, she discussed how her life has dramatically changed since her husband’s arrest, noting that Busfield being “cancelled” by his former fans will forever impact their home.
Melissa Gilbert Discusses Husband Being ‘Cancelled’ by Fans
“Our life as we knew it is done. We are grieving what we had — all of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects,” she said. “For Tim, it’s done. He’s cancelled. Even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy.”
The Hallmark actress also emphasized how much she believes in Busfield, who pleaded not guilty on four counts of criminal sexual misconduct in February.
“No one knows him better than I do. I know literally everything about him. Our marriage has, you know, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve been through struggles, we’ve had our own issues to deal with and we worked through everything,” she explained. “He’s nothing if not completely honest with me. I trust him with my children’s lives, with my grandchildren’s lives, my nieces and nephews. He is an honorable, caring, generous human being.”
Busfield’s trial is scheduled for May 2027 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
When a person likes minors. It’s an addiction an he’s guilty. They also can’t be cured from this. They can just learn to refrain from the behaviors. Good luck
That is the problem people saying he is guilty without the trial. I read the background of these charges, and I personally am extremely leery of the circumstances and the parents. The children were interviewed by the police and said that Busfield never touched them. Then 13 months later the mother takes them to a doctor who had to report what she said under the law. These twins’ contracts were not renewed and that is when and only then that these not-proven-yet charges happened. Having her twins acting contract not renewed resulted in the loss of a lot of money especially if she was acting as their financial advisor and agent.
The 1994 case never happened the police said.
I hope you remember the famous day care school where they all were accused, and they all went to prison only for the 2 girls to come forward and tell the truth that it never ever happened. It was too late for some of those in prison as they had died.
She’s as bad as he is.
Don’t fret, dear. Even if he is convicted, he could still be president someday.