'LOST MY MIND': Melissa Gilbert admits she took extreme measures to cope with 2011 divorce
Melissa Gilbert confessed that she 'lost her mind' when she split from her then husband Bruce Boxleitner back in 2011. The consequences of this divorce led to the 'Little House on the Prairie' star getting Botox and fillers and purchasing a Mustang Convertible.
She also got herself a much younger beau. His outfit was noteworthy on one memorable occassion when he wore a tee that read 'snatch' when the couple went to Gilbert's mother's house for lunch. Gilbert told Page Six, "It was like, I lost my mind. One of my friends says, ‘You know, every once in a while we all have to go to the zoo. And you went and now you’re back.'”
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A year after the divorce, Gilbert went on to meet her now husband Timothy Busfield in a bar. She recalls this and says that she looks back and wonders what exactly was going on in her head, but looking back at it all now, she has "no regrets." She told the publication, "Tim says it to me all the time, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today if one thing had gone differently. It’s kind of hard to look back and want to have changed anything.”
However, she also said that she "sometimes feels like smacking herself in the head" when she thought of the example she created for her two sons. One of them she shares with her former husband Boxleitner and the other one with Bo Brinkman, her first husband. She said, "Hopefully, you know, they’re seeing this growth and it’s inspiring them, too."
Her new book 'Back to the Prairie' notes details about her life with Busfield, their temporary move to the Catskills during the pandemic, and they fact that she does not really miss her Los Angeles lifestyle. She said, "I find [Los Angeles] to be such a difficult place to live. I really do. I miss my family there and I miss my friends there." However, she added, "But I don’t miss the city. I don’t miss the traffic. I don’t miss the pollution."
Gilbert also noted, "I finally found a place in my life where I can actually be still and love it. I don’t feel like I have to be doing something all the time." She said, "I’ve really embraced this lovely stillness in my existence … And I am not chasing after some elusive thing, whether it’s a success or a job or money or things. I’m really just enjoying the sweet simplicity of my life." She ended by saying, "I’m so blessed that it’s my happy ending. I hope it inspires other people to find their happy endings.”