Melissa Gilbert, best known as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie, recently opened up about her discomfort over the age difference between her and her on-screen husband, Dean Butler. According to her Instagram post shared in response to a broader online conversation, she now feels “nauseated” looking back on scenes filmed when she was 15.
She wrote that when she searched for photos of herself at 15, she realized that the same “girl on vacation in Hawaii with her family … was expected to ‘fall in love with’ and kiss a man … several years older than she was.”
Gilbert stressed:
“Through the lens of today, this is shocking. … I WAS A CHILD. I WAS FIFTEEN.”
She also expressed gratitude that her mother and co-star Michael Landon were there to protect her on set.
Context & Reaction:
- At the time of filming, Gilbert was 15 and her co-star Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder, was 23 — an eight-year age gap.
- Butler later admitted that he regretted the age difference and felt some anxiety about kissing Gilbert, noting he wished they had been “a little closer in age.”
- Gilbert’s remarks come amid a social media trend (#iWasFifteen) that was reignited after controversial comments made by Megyn Kelly about Epstein.
Implications:
Gilbert’s reflections highlight broader concerns about how child actors are placed in romantic situations with adult co-stars. She emphasizes how, looking back, what seemed “normal” on set is now deeply unsettling to her.
Summary:
Melissa Gilbert has revisited her time on Little House on the Prairie with a new perspective, recognizing that her youth — and the significant age difference between her and Butler — makes some of her early romantic scenes feel wrong now. What she once saw as part of her career, she now recognizes as a reminder of just how young she was.
