Melissa Gilbert breaks silence after Megyn Kelly’s Epstein remarks

For many viewers, Melissa Gilbert defined childhood television. We watched her grow up as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie, never realizing the complicated experiences she would later unpack. Now, at 61, Gilbert is revisiting her teenage years — prompted by Megyn Kelly’s recent remarks about Jeffrey Epstein — and what she uncovered left her “nauseated.”

The controversy erupted after Megyn Kelly suggested on her Nov. 12 show that Epstein preyed on “barely legal” girls, adding, “There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old.” Her comments triggered widespread backlash and fueled the hashtag #iWasFifteen, where women shared photos of themselves at 15 to highlight the true vulnerability of Epstein’s victims.

Gilbert joined the movement and was stunned when she looked up images of herself at that age. She shared photos from her time on Little House, revealing that at just 15 she filmed romantic scenes with Dean Butler — who was 23.

She wrote that the realization made her “actually nauseated,” emphasizing that she had been a child asked to portray romance with a much older man. She credited Michael Landon, her mother, and the crew for protecting her, while also acknowledging how easily situations like this could have gone wrong.

Dean Butler, now 69, has addressed the age difference, saying both he and Gilbert felt awkward and that he wished they had been closer in age while filming, even if the characters they portrayed had a large age gap.

Kelly’s comments have drawn strong reactions across Hollywood. Valerie Bertinelli shared her own 15-year-old photo, while John Oliver sharply criticized Kelly on his show. Gilbert has also challenged Kelly before, reminding her that Little House on the Prairie tackled many social issues long before “woke” became a buzzword.