Melissa Gilbert publicly spoke about her husband Timothy Busfield’s legal troubles.
She revealed she was aware of his past sexual assault allegations before the two married in 2013.
The Little House on the Prairie alum sat down with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America Monday, addressing Busfield’s history and the charges he now faces in New Mexico.
Gilbert explained that she entered the relationship with full knowledge of the accusations that had circulated for decades.
“I didn’t go into my relationship blind. I’m neither naive nor am I complicit,” she said. “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.”
As per People, in 1994 a 17-year-old extra on Little Big League accused him of assault.
She claimed he served her alcohol and attempted sex in a trailer.
Busfield denied the allegations, countersued for extortion, and the case was eventually settled.
Years later, in 2012, a 28-year-old woman alleged Busfield groped her in a Los Angeles movie theater.
Prosecutors declined to pursue charges, citing insufficient evidence, while Busfield maintained the encounter was consensual.
Now, Busfield faces far more serious charges.
The 68-year-old was indicted in February on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor under 13, stemming from alleged incidents in 2022 and 2023 involving 11-year-old twin boys he met on the set of Fox’s The Cleaning Lady.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released from custody in January after a pretrial detention hearing.
His trial is scheduled for 2027, and his attorney has vowed to fight the case “at every stage.”
Gilbert described the ordeal as “hell” and admitted that her husband’s career and reputation may never recover.
“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. For Tim, it’s done. Even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy,” she said.
Despite the allegations, Gilbert insisted Busfield is “the last person in the world who would hurt a child.”
She added that she trusts him with her children and grandchildren.
“He is an honorable, caring, generous human being,” she said.
Gilbert’s decision to speak publicly was, according to her representative, an effort to clarify facts that she believes have been distorted by “distraction, selective information and clickbait.”
For her, the interview was a chance to defend her husband and to assert that she has always known the full story behind the allegations.
