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Melissa Gilbert reiterated her support for husband Timothy Busfield in a new TV interview nearly three months after his arrest.
The Little House on the Prairie alum, 61, sat down with George Stephanopoulos for a conversation that aired during the Monday, April 6, episode of Good Morning America. When asked about prior allegations against her husband from 1994 and 2012, Gilbert was firm in her response.
“I need to make something really abundantly clear,” she began. “These allegations have been out in the ether for a really long time. When Tim and I got together, the internet existed. I didn’t go into my relationship with him blind. I am neither naive nor am I complicit. I talked to him about it, I asked him questions about it. I heard his side of the story — which no one 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.”
In a teaser from the interview shared on Thursday, April 2, Gilbert told Stephanopoulos, 65, that her life had been “hell” since allegations about Busfield, 68, surfaced, calling the ordeal “the most traumatizing experience of our lives.”
“Our life as we knew it is done,” she said in the clip. “We are grieving what we had — all of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects. For Tim, it’s done. He’s canceled. Even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy. [He’s] the last person in the world who would hurt a child. And believe me, if I thought for a second that Tim Busfield hurt a child, he’d have a lot more to worry about than prison.”
Gilbert continued to voice her support on Monday, declaring, “I am 100 percent confident he will be exonerated.” She acknowledged, however, that the pair “have to be prepared for all scenarios.”
Melissa Gilbert Sam Wasson/Getty Images
“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’ve worked through everything,” she said. “He is 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.”
When asked what “justice” would look like for the couple, Gilbert got emotional. “Exoneration, an apology, free him from this cloud,” she replied.
In a statement after the broadcast, Busfield’s civil lawyer, Larry Stein, noted: “We appreciate George for taking the time to clarify some important facts in this case. We hope the remainder of the interview airing on tonight’s Nightline will make clear that the parents are criminals: one served more than three years in jail and lost their license to practice law for defrauding 1,500 people of $6,000,000, and the other for writing bad checks and stealing cars.”
Stephanopoulos noted on Monday that the family of the alleged victims did not respond for comment ahead of airing.
Us Weekly confirmed in January that an arrest warrant was issued for Busfield in New Mexico after he was accused of child sexual abuse by two twin boys on the set of The Cleaning Lady when he directed the Fox drama. Days later, he turned himself in to law enforcement, vehemently denying the allegations in a video obtained by TMZ at the time.
Timothy Busfield Sam Wasson/Getty Images
Shortly after Busfield’s arrest, Gilbert publicly defended her husband of 12 years in a January statement.
“During this period, her focus is on supporting and caring for their very large family as they navigate this moment,” her rep told Us. “Melissa stands with and supports her husband and will address the public at an appropriate time.”
Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield have been married since 2013 after each having longstanding careers in Hollywood. “Our business in Los Angeles is very difficult because it’s everywhere in that city [and] everybody’s involved in it in some way,” Gilbert, best known for starring as Laura Ingalls on The Little House on the Prairie, said […]
Meanwhile, Busfield’s attorney Larry Stein told Us in a statement that his client was “innocent,” claiming that the accusers’ mother made the allegations in an effort to “get her revenge against Timothy” after her son was fired from The Cleaning Lady.
Later in January, Gilbert wrote a letter asking a judge to keep Busfield “safe” during his time behind bars. She praised him for being “my love, my rock, my partner in business and life” and described him as having “the strongest moral compass of any human I have ever known.”
“I only want this extraordinary man safe and whole,” she continued. “Please, please take care of my sweet husband. As he is my protector, I am his, but I cannot protect him now and I think that, more than anything else, is what is truly breaking my heart, I am relying on [you] to protect him for me.”
Busfield was released from police custody in January. The following month, he was indicted by a grand jury in New Mexico on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child. Busfield subsequently pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is currently scheduled to begin in May 2027.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
