The actress was born in 1964, in Los Angeles. The actress was only 24 hours old, when her adoptive parents, Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert took her, along with her brother, Jonathan. Paul was a stand-up comic, actor and a dancer, but worked as an aerialist at Buenos Aires, in a family circus.

Paul Gilbert, their daughter, and Barbara Crane at the 4th Annual People’s Choice Awards on February 20, 1978 | Source: Getty Images

Barbara was an actress, but her career cut short. The actress was six, when her adoptive parents got divorced. “My father was the most incredibly talented, vivacious, funny, loving, fair person I ever knew.”

She lost her father, in 1976. In her book, “Prairie Tale: A Memoir,” the actress shared that she was told her biological mother was Kathy Wood, a prima Ballerina, and her father was a Rhodes Scholar, David Darlington.

As she was told, her biological parents were focused on their careers, so the didn’t had any time to care for a baby, so they gave the actress up for adoption.

Later, she found out that her mother was a dancer, but wasn’t a prima ballerina, and her father was a sign painter, and a stock car racer.

After her adoptive father passed away, the actress found out that her adoptive parents didn’t wanted her either. “I mean, we had no plans to adopt a child.”

The actress was 11 when her adoptive father, Paul, died. She was told that Paul lost his life due to a stroke, but when she was 45, she learned that her father took his own life.

This was kept as a secret from the actress. To find out the truth, the actress hired a special detective, and learned that her adoptive father was in so much pain as he was under VA care, and took his own life.

The actress we are talking about the star of “Little House on the Prairie,” Melissa Gilbert. She had appeared in the show from 1974 to 1983. In 2022, Gilbert published her memoir, “Back to the Prairie.”

The actress got married with Timothy Busfield in 2013, and they has eight grandchildren in total. They met in a bar, while Busfield was dealing with his second divorce.

In her memoir, Gilbert had talked about their private wedding in 2013. Gilbert has a son, dakota Paul Brinkman, from her first marriage with Bo Brinkman.

Her second son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, was from her second marriage with Bruce Boxleitner. Busfield has three children, Samuel, Daisy and Wilson.