Melissa Gilbert, best known for her role as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie, is looking back at her childhood on the beloved TV series with new eyes — and new emotions.
The 61-year-old actress recently took to Instagram to share a candid reflection that was sparked by journalist Megyn Kelly’s controversial comments about the late Jeffrey Epstein. While Kelly’s remarks prompted widespread backlash, Gilbert used the moment to reflect on her own experience as a 15-year-old actress portraying romance on-screen with an adult co-star.
“So, I debated posting this but, I feel compelled to share,” Gilbert wrote alongside photos of herself as a teenager. “After seeing many women’s posts with the hashtags #iwasfifteen #imfifteen #iwasachild, I decided to google search myself at that age and see what came up.”
Her search results left her disturbed. “And this is some of what I found… and now, at this age, at this time, I am actually nauseated,” she continued. “The girl on vacation in Hawaii with her family is the same girl who was expected to ‘fall in love with’ and kiss a man on film who was several years older than she was.”
Gilbert worked alongside Dean Butler, who played her on-screen husband, Almanzo Wilder. When filming began, Gilbert was 15 and Butler was 23 — an age gap that didn’t strike her as odd at the time but feels very different to her now.
“Through the lens of today, this is shocking,” she admitted. “I have no words other than to say, ‘I WAS A CHILD.’ ‘I WAS FIFTEEN.’ And I was the good news.”
Even as she looks back with discomfort, Gilbert expressed gratitude for the adults who protected her while filming. “I was safe on set thanks to my mother and Michael Landon,” she said, referring to the show’s creator and her on-screen father. “Can you imagine if I hadn’t had them all? I am so fortunate (Sort of). Many other young women aren’t.”
Her post also included a pointed message for Megyn Kelly, who recently said on her SiriusXM show, “He [Epstein] liked 15-year-old girls. And I realize this is disgusting. I’m definitely not trying to make an excuse for this. I’m just giving you facts.” Kelly added, “There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?”
The comments quickly drew outrage and inspired the trending hashtag #iWasFifteen, encouraging women to share pictures of themselves at that age — a reminder of how young 15 truly is.
Dean Butler himself has acknowledged the age difference in past interviews, telling People last year, “I’ve often said to Melissa, ‘I wish we could have been a little closer in age when we were doing this.’ But that’s not the way it really happened.”
He also reflected on filming their first kiss: “I think that there was anxiety on both sides of that kiss and how is this going to go? But we stepped up to it.”
Decades later, Gilbert’s reflections serve as both a personal reckoning and a cultural reminder. What once seemed innocent through the lens of Hollywood storytelling now looks starkly different — and she hopes sharing her truth helps others see it that way, too.