Melissa Gilbert condemned child sex abuse weeks before husband Timothy Busfield’s arrest warrant

Comments Melissa Gilbert made against child sex abuse have resurfaced after a warrant was issued for her husband Timothy Busfield’s arrest in connection with child sex abuse charges.

The “Little House on the Prairie” alum, 61, took to Instagram in November to discuss how she, at the age of 15, felt forced to “fall in love with and kiss” Dean Butler, 69, for the popular Western drama despite the pair’s eight-year age gap.

Dean starred as Almanzo Wilder in “Little House on the Prairie,” the love interest and then husband of Gilbert’s character, Laura Ingalls Wilder.

“I am actually nauseated,” Gilbert wrote in an Instagram post on Nov. 15. “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.”

“Through the lens of today, this is shocking. I have no words other than to say, ‘I WAS A CHILD.’ ‘I WAS FIFTEEN.’ And I was the good news,” she continued, noting that adults were keeping her “safe” on the NBC set. “I am so fortunate (Sort of). Many other young women aren’t.”

Gilbert’s remarks, however, resurfaced after it was revealed that her husband of almost 13 years, Timothy Busfield, was wanted in New Mexico on two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse.

The Albuquerque Police Department, in an arrest warrant released Friday, alleged that the “West Wing” alum, 68, engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with a pair of 11-year-old twins while directing the Fox show “The Cleaning Lady” in 2024.

One of the alleged victims claimed that the shocking incidents first started when he and his brother were 7 years old.

The investigation into Busfield reportedly kicked off in November 2024 when a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital alerted police about suspected sexual abuse and grooming involving the minors, per the warrant.

Although the APD initially declined to press charges against the “Field of Dreams” star, the case was said to be reopened in September 2025 when one of the kids told his counselor and then pediatrician that Busfield “touched him on his penis and bottom.”

The “Revenge of the Nerds” star also allegedly told the kids to call him “Uncle Tim” and tickled them on their stomachs and legs, per the arrest warrant.

Busfield, meanwhile, reportedly spoke to investigators by phone in November 2025 and said that it was “highly likely” that he had “physical contact” with the twins while filming “The Cleaning Lady.”

“I don’t remember those boys,” he also said, according to the affidavit. “No, I don’t. I don’t actually, 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.”

During that same interview with the police, the “Thirtysomething” alum reportedly claimed that Elodie Yung – the lead actress on “The Cleaning Lady” – told him that the twins’ mom was seeking “revenge” because the boys were not invited back for the show’s final season.

The Post has reached out to Gilbert and Busfield’s reps for comment.