Melissa Gilbert: It's Been 'Hell' Since Husband's Arrest

Melissa Gilbert is strongly defending husband Timothy Busfield after his bombshell charges of child sexual abuse. The former Little House on the Prairie star sat for an interview with George Stephanopoulos of Good Morning America, per the Hollywood Reporter. The full interview won't air until Monday, but ABC released a snippet. When asked what life has been like since her husband's arrest, Gilbert responded: "Hell. This has been the most traumatizing experience of our lives."

• "Our life as we knew it is done," she says. "We are grieving what we had—all of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects. For Tim, it's done. He's canceled. Even if he's exonerated, he will always be that guy. [He's] the last person in the world who would hurt a child. And believe me, if I thought for a second that Tim Busfield hurt a child, he'd have a lot more to worry about than prison."

A Gilbert spokesperson tells People she chose to speak out to "clarify the facts of the case," which she believes have been distorted by online coverage. Busfield, 68, a director on Fox's the Cleaning Lady, is accused of unlawful sexual conduct involving two 11-year-old boys on the show's set. He was indicted in February on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor under 13, has pleaded not guilty, and is free under strict conditions while awaiting a trial set for May 2027. Since his arrest, at least four women have come forward to make allegations of their own going back decades.