Beloved actress Melissa Gilbert deleted her social media accounts after her husband turned himself in to face child sex abuse charges in New Mexico.
Emmy Award-winning actor Timothy Busfield turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday, January 13.
Gilbert, best known for her role as Laura Ingalls on “Little House on the Prairie,” has been married to Busfield since 2013.
She deactivated her Threads and Instagram accounts after Busfield turned himself in to police.
In an arrest warrant issued by New Mexico police last week, two children accused Busfield of touching them on the set of the Fox TV series “The Cleaning Lady,” which aired from 2022 to 2025.
The children, twin brothers, were 11 years old at the time.
The twins’ mother said her sons were “groomed,” by the 68-year-old “West Wing” actor. They boys claimed the abuse occurred between fall 2022 and spring 2024.
Albuquerque police officer Marvin Brown asked Busfield about the allegations. His answers were suspect, according to the arrest warrant reviewed by Entertainment Weekly.
“I mean, I’m always around people, right? Uh, uh, uh… it would be, it would be, you know, in front of the parents. There would never be a weird moment about it. I don’t really remember picking those boys up,” he told Brown. “I don’t remember those boys … I don’t remember it … If it happened, I don’t remember overtly tickling the boys ever, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me.”
Gilbert asked for privacy in a statement issued through her publicist.
She previously spoke out against child abuse on film and TV sets.
In a November Instagram post, Gilbert recalled feeling pressured to kiss costar Dean Butler in “Little House on the Prairie.” She was 15 at the time and Dean was 23.
“Through the lens of today, this is shocking. I have no words other than to say, ‘I WAS A CHILD. I WAS FIFTEEN,'” she wrote in her post. Gilbert added that she was more “fortunate” because adults on the NBC set kept her “safe.”
