Melissa Gilbert has deactivated several social media profiles amid reports that her husband, Timothy Busfieldfaces arrest on child sexual abuse charges.
Anyone visiting Gilbert’s Official Instagram or her threads On Saturday, January 10, he received messages that no page was available. The official Instagram account for Gilbert’s lifestyle brand Modern Prairie is still active and even posted a winter themed video saturday wishing his followers a “good saturday”.
On Friday, January 9, Us Weekly obtained an arrest warrant issued by authorities in New Mexico after a child actor accused Busfield of touching him inappropriately when they worked together on a television series. The cleaning woman. (The accuser and his twin brother were child actors on the show while Busfield directed several episodes.)
we Busfield and Gilbert have been contacted for comment.
Timothy Busfield allegedly told authorities there were no specific rules on the set of The Cleaning Lady about how adults should physically interact with child actors, an arrest warrant for the actor obtained by Us Weekly claims. The 68-year-old actor-turned-director faces multiple charges of sexual abuse of a minor after being accused (…)
The accuser alleged that Busfield inappropriately touched her “private areas” for the first time when she was 7 years old, although there were allegedly three to four incidents in total. The child actor recalled that Busfield later touched him five or six more times in a separate incident when he was 8 years old. (The child’s mother reported to Child Protective Services that the alleged crimes occurred between late 2022 and the second half of 2024.)
“(The boy) was afraid to tell anyone because Tim was the principal, and he was afraid Tim would get mad at him,” an affidavit from Albuquerque Police Department to read
The affidavit includes references to the child actor being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety due to the alleged trauma.
According to the documents, Busfield spoke to investigators about the allegations in November 2025. The principal was asked in that conversation whether he had had “physical contact” with the children, such as picking them up or tickling them.
“Timothy said it was very likely that he would have done it,” the police affidavit said, although Busfield insisted there would “never be a strange moment” and that any contact would have occurred “in front of the parents.”
However, the affidavit also mentioned that Busfield told authorities that he did not specifically remember picking up the boys at any point during the production.
Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield.
VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images“I don’t remember those guys,” he said, according to the affidavit. “No, I don’t. I actually don’t remember, if it happened. I don’t remember openly tickling boys ever, but it wouldn’t be strange to me.”
At the behest of Busfield, there is a reference to the actor and director telling the Officer Marvin Brown that he and Gilbert, 61, bought “the two boys’ Christmas presents and were together (at) various social functions.” Officer Brown reported that Busfield “invite(d) the family to compensated gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas presents to encourage closeness.”
The officer indicated that this behavior could be an example of “classic preparation to erode boundaries, isolate the victim and silence suspicion by conflating abuse with normality”.
Just weeks before the warrant was issued for her husband, Gilbert dealt with the issue of sexual abuse via his Instagram on November 15, 2025. (Gilbert was responding to the “I was 15” social media movement that started after Megyn Kelly argued that the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “was in the barely legal kind,” thus apparently implying that he might not have actually been a pedophile.)
“So I debated posting this, but feel compelled to share. After seeing many posts by women with the hashtags #iwasfifteen #imfifteen #iwasachild, I decided to google what age and see what came up,” she wrote. “And that’s part of what I found … and now, at this age, at this point, I’m nauseous.”
Gilbert shared photos of herself at age 15 on the set of Little house on the prairie next to the coast Dean Butlera 23-year-old actor who played her character’s love interest.
“The girl on vacation in Hawaii with her family is the same girl who was expected to ‘fall in love’ and kiss a man in the movie who was several years older than her,” Gilbert wrote. “Through today’s lens, this is shocking. I have no more words to say, ‘I WAS A KID.’ “I WAS FIFTEEN. And I was the good news.”
She continued: “Thank God my mum and Michael and so many others were there to make sure I was safe. Can you imagine if I hadn’t had them all? I’m very lucky (sort of). A lot of other young women aren’t.”
More recently, Gilbert shared an anonymous cryptic quote about injustice via Instagram on January 5.
Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield have been married since 2013 after having a long career in Hollywood. “Our business in Los Angeles is very difficult because it’s everywhere in this city (and) everyone is involved in it in some way,” said Gilbert, best known for playing Laura Ingalls on The Little House on the Prairie (…)
“You seem to have a misguided discomfort with injustice,” the message read, along with the hashtags “Frailty,” “You know who you are,” and “That’s right, I’m looking at you.”
In the comments section, Gilbert explained that her post was about “playing the victim and blaming others.”
“It’s about not taking responsibility for your own situation,” he said. “It’s about being a big whiny baby. I saw that quote and it blew me away. … Having a particularly hard time with people who play the victim. You’ve got your shit. Step up. It’s all pretty general. It’s got nothing to do with politics, it’s got to do with privilege and attitude and weakness.”
Gilbert never specified exactly what she was referring to in the Instagram post, though it was reported four days later about her husband’s arrest warrant.
Busfield and Gilbert have been married since 2013. (Gilbert was previously married to actors Good Brinkman i Bruce Boxleitnerwhile Busfield was also married twice before, to Radha Delamarter i Jennifer Merwin.)
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact them National sexual assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Helpline for children at 1-800-422-4453.