Melissa Gilbert she was in the room with her husband, Timothy Busfieldas he was questioned by the police, an arrest warrant obtained by Us Weekly complaints
In November, the West Wing The 68-year-old actor told the agent Marvin Brown that his wife was listening on speakerphone during his interview about the ongoing allegations of child sexual abuse. How we It was previously reported that Busfield has been accused of inappropriately touching twin boys on multiple occasions over a two-year period, including touching the children’s clothing, picking them up and tickling them, while working as a director on the set of The cleaning woman.
At the time, Brown concluded that both Busfield and Gilbert had a friendly relationship with the boys and their family that was facilitated “outside of work”.
“They advised that they do buy Christmas presents for both boys and were together (at) various social functions,” Brown reported in the arrest warrant.
The officer suggested that Busfield may have forged these relationships to “foster closeness” with them and called it an example of “classic preparation to erode boundaries, isolate the victim and silence suspicion by conflating abuse with normalcy.”
During the interview, Busfield allegedly claimed that he did not recall “overtly tickling” the boys at any time, but admitted that he was likely to have had physical contact with them due to the “playful environment” on set.
“I’m always around people, right? It would be, you know, in front of parents. There would never be a weird moment,” he said, according to the warrant. “I don’t really remember picking up those guys. I remember picking up the guy who was following them. I’d pick him up and he’d laugh and that would get him ready to act.”
Melissa Gilbert and her husband Timothy Busfield
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesWhen asked whether or not this kind of touching was allowed on set, Busfield allegedly said it was “not allowed,” but later claimed that it was no official “protocol” about physical contact between an adult and a minor on set or while the show is being filmed.
Busfield also told Agent Brown that the boys’ parents had become frustrated that their children had been replaced by another actor on the show and allegedly filed the complaint against him with Warner Bros. soon after
Melissa Gilbert has deactivated several social media profiles amid reports that her husband, Timothy Busfield, is facing arrest on allegations of child sexual abuse. Anyone who visited Gilbert’s official Instagram or his Threads account on Saturday, January 10, received messages that no page was available. The official Instagram account for Gilbert’s lifestyle brand, Modern Prairie, is still (…)
Warner Bros. has since released a statement confirming that they are continuing to cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation.
“The health and safety of our cast and crew is always our highest priority, especially the safety of minors in our productions,” he shared the statement with people to read “We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and have systems in place to quickly and thoroughly investigate and, where necessary, take appropriate action.”
On Friday, January 9, police in New Mexico issued a warrant for Busfield’s arrest on two counts of criminal misconduct against a minor.
we Busfield representatives have been contacted for comment.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Helpline for children at 1-800-422-4453.