Melissa Gilbert Defends Husband Amid Abuse Charges
Melissa Gilbert defends Timothy Busfield amid child sexual abuse charges, calling the ordeal devastating as legal battle intensifies.
Melissa Gilbert has vigorously defended her husband and fellow actor, Timothy Busfield. This marks her first interview following the accusations of child sexual abuse leveled against him by New Mexico prosecutors in early February.
In a segment of the conversation—which aired on *Good Morning America* on Monday but had previously been released as a preview—Gilbert told ABC host George Stephanopoulos that she is absolutely certain her Emmy Award-winning husband (whom she married in 2013) is "the last person on earth who would ever hurt a child."
The former *Little House on the Prairie* star also stated that if Busfield were to hurt children, he would face a punishment from her that would be far more severe than any prison sentence.
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"This has been the most painful experience of our lives," Gilbert told Stephanopoulos. "Our lives, as we knew them, are over. We are mourning the life we once had. All our plans, all our dreams, all our ideas, all our projects... for Tim, everything is finished."
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"He has been completely 'canceled,' and that will never change—even if he is proven innocent, people will still always view him through that same lens." Gilbert's comments come nearly two months after a grand jury in Albuquerque (New Mexico's largest city) indicted Busfield on four counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor. In a related criminal complaint filed against Busfield, he was accused of engaging in the conduct at issue between November 2022 and the spring of 2024 on the set of the TV drama series *The Cleaning Lady*, on which he served as both a director and an actor.
Busfield, 68, was specifically accused of inappropriately touching a boy over his clothing—once when the child was seven years old, and again when he was eight. The boy's twin brother also reportedly claimed to have been touched by Busfield.
The former star of *Revenge of the Nerds*, *The West Wing*, and *Field of Dreams* subsequently maintained his innocence regarding the allegations leveled against him. In a video shared with the entertainment outlet TMZ, he dismissed the accusations as "complete lies."
Despite his claims of innocence, authorities in Albuquerque have cited an alleged pattern of sexual misconduct by Busfield during the course of his work. Documents filed by prosecutors detail a specific allegation against the actor, stating that he molested a 16-year-old girl who was auditioning at Sacramento's B Street Theatre (which he co-founded). Court records indicate that this matter was resolved after Busfield agreed to undergo therapy and the girl's family agreed not to report the incident to the police.
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Then, in 1994, a 17-year-old extra working on the film *Little Big League* claimed that Busfield forced himself upon her after plying her with alcohol. Busfield—the *Little Big League* star who won an Emmy Award three years earlier for his acting in *thirtysomething*—insisted that he was being blackmailed and resolved these allegations privately. Nevertheless, he was ordered to pay $150,000 in damages, as he failed to prove that the charges leveled against him were fabricated.
Separately, in 2012, a 28-year-old woman alleged that Busfield had molested her at a movie theater in Los Angeles. Busfield indicated that the encounter was consensual; consequently, neither criminal charges were brought against him nor was a civil lawsuit filed.
Gilbert's remarks to Stephanopoulos mirrored a statement she had issued earlier, in which she affirmed her support for her husband but noted that she had been advised otherwise—specifically, that she must refrain from speaking publicly until the allegations of child sexual abuse against him were resolved. Busfield's trial has been tentatively scheduled to begin in May 2027; he has been permitted to await these proceedings while remaining out of the custody of New Mexico authorities.
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