'Little House on the Prairie' Star Melissa Gilbert Says She Absorbed a Lot from Her Role as Laura Ingalls

Melissa Gilbert has spoken up about how much her “Little House on the Prairie” character, Laura Ingalls, influenced her in real life, years after the show’s finale.

When Melissa Gilbert played the role of Laura Ingalls on “Little House on the Prairie,” the US was in the middle of a recession, an oil crisis, and the Watergate scandal. Many years after the show’s end, fans all over the world are still making out time to watch its reruns and show their love for it.

During a recent interview with CBS, Melissa opened up about why “Little House on the Prairie” is still famous amongst fans and the lessons she learned from her character.

Timothy Busfield [said] his biggest challenge during quarantine was coming to terms with his wife’s friendship with a bear, claiming it is a "Little House on the Prairie" déjà vu.

Noting that she is the woman she is today because of her involvement in the show, the now-56-year-old said, “I absorbed so much without even realizing what I was learning – really important life lessons about family, community, tolerance.”

Melissa added that several things became a part of her life and existence because she had to understand them first. As for why the show has maintained its stride with viewers, Melissa stated:

“I think, from what I'm hearing from people, is that “Little House on the Prairie” is a reminder of when things were simpler for us in our lives, those 45 years ago.”

Her statement caused the Inquisitr to point out how similar the show’s episode, “Plague,” in which residents of Walnut Grove were instructed to stay at home, was to current events.

While residents were placed on that lockdown, Charles Ingalls [played by Michael Landon], the town’s pastor, Reverend Alden [played by Dabbs Greer], and Doc Baker [played by Kevin Hagen], tried to subdue a disease’s outbreak in the community.

In addition to all that, the community’s church, which doubled as a school building, was transformed into a makeshift hospital/morgue that housed and quarantined the sick.

The report came some months before Melissa’s husband, Timothy Busfield, told Page Six that his biggest challenge during quarantine was coming to terms with his wife’s friendship with a bear, claiming it is a "Little House on the Prairie" déjà vu.

However, Melissa disagreed with her husband’s claim about her new companion stating that Timothy was “exaggerating” about her experiences and that she was nowhere “near it.”