When she was just a newborn, a famous actress was given up for adoption by her biological parents. They were more focused on their careers and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a child.
Her adoptive parents kept this secret from her for many years. Born at the now-closed French Hospital in Los Angeles on May 8, 1964, she was adopted by Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert just 24 hours later. She wasn’t alone in this new family—her adoptive brother Jonathan was also adopted by the couple.
Barbara was a young actress whose career had been cut short, and Paul was a versatile performer—a comedian, actor, and dancer who had started as an aerialist in a family circus from Buenos Aires. When the actress was six, Barbara and Paul separated, but she remembered her adoptive father fondly:
“I have never known a more brilliant, energetic, humorous, loving, and fair person than my father.”
In 1976, Paul passed away, and many thought he had suffered a stroke. It was around this time that her adoption became public knowledge. In her memoir “Prairie Tale: A Memoir,” the actress shared that she had been told her biological father, David Darlington, was a Rhodes Scholar and her biological mother, Kathy Wood, was a prima ballerina.
Her adoptive parents claimed her birth parents didn’t want to give up their careers to raise her. They said the timing of her birth was inconvenient for her father’s work, so they had to give her up.
As she grew older, the actress discovered the full truth. Her birth mother was not a prima ballerina but a dancer, and her father was a stock car racer and sign painter. Kathy and David had children from previous marriages and, after running away and having another baby, realized they couldn’t support a seventh child.
The actress was shocked to learn more about her adoption after her adoptive father’s death. Her godmother, Mitzi, revealed how the adoptive parents hadn’t planned on adopting a child. She recalled:
“When the Gilberts came back with their new baby, it was a surprise.” The actress turned to Barbara, who admitted, “Well, we weren’t planning on adopting a kid.”
When Barbara and Paul received the call about the baby, they hadn’t been looking to adopt. But when Barbara called her out-of-state husband, he said, “Go get it.” Though shocked to hear herself referred to as “it,” Barbara explained she hadn’t been born yet. Later, Barbara shared they had been trying to conceive but hadn’t considered adoption until that call.
In a July 2020 interview, the actress discussed her family’s secrecy. She revealed to “CBS Sunday Morning” that she had learned at age 11 her father died of a stroke, but found out at 45 that he had actually committed suicide.
She kept this painful secret to herself, vowing never to burden her children with such dark truths. To find out what happened to her adoptive father, she hired a detective, who discovered he had been in immense pain and had threatened to take his own life while under VA care.
Learning the truth was devastating. For about six months, she struggled to eat or sleep, but she eventually accepted it. Now, she honors his memory by advocating for mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
The actress also forgave Barbara for hiding the truth, even though she had felt angry and betrayed for a long time. The next part of her story reveals who she is and what her life is like today.
Melissa Gilbert is the actress who was abandoned and then became famous. She’s best known for her role as Laura “Half-Pint” Ingalls Wilder on “Little House on the Prairie,” which aired from 1974 to 1983. In July 2022, she released her memoir, “Back to the Prairie,” and now enjoys life with her family.
Melissa feels “blessed” and is in a different place now, away from her past pain. She wishes her adoptive father, Paul, could have experienced the joy of grandchildren and a supportive life partner.
In May 2022, Melissa and her third husband, Timothy Busfield, celebrated having eight grandchildren. They met in 2012 when Busfield saw her at a bar while going through his second divorce.
In April 2013, they married in an intimate ceremony in Santa Barbara, California. Melissa wore a dress from Morgane Le Faye, chosen after her mother suggested the brand’s Santa Monica store.
In her book “Back to the Prairie,” she revealed that Busfield wore a blue suit, and no guests attended their private event. After a long career in Hollywood, Melissa had her first child, Dakota Paul Brinkman, with her first husband, actor Bo Brinkman. Her second son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, was from her marriage to Bruce Boxleitner. Busfield also brought three children—Wilson, Daisy, and Samuel—into their family.
Now, Melissa and Timothy live peacefully on a 14-acre cottage in the Catskill Mountains of New York.
