Melissa Gilbert Ditched LA for a Simple Cottage Life in the Catskills: Glimpse inside Her Happy Life Now

• Melissa Gilbert left her life in the spotlight of Los Angeles for a quiet life in the Catskills.
• She lives in a cottage with her husband, Tim Busfield.
• The couple had to clean off mice and mold before they could call it home.

Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls in "Little House on the Prairie," has been living a quiet life out of the Hollywood limelight with her husband, Timothy Busfield.

The couple's paths crossed when they least expected it; both Gilbert and Busfield went to the same bar but were looking for different things. The actor and director said he wanted a solo night at the bar, watch sports, and eat pizza with beer.

But to his surprise, he found Gilbert sitting in his seat. He did not have the courage to speak to her since he had been out of the dating scene for a while. Even the "Little House on the Prairie" star said she did not usually go to bars alone, but she was out with a friend, and they had gone to that bar while they waited for the place they wanted to go to open.

The initial plan was for Gilbert and her friend to go dancing, but the friend left his phone at her place, leaving her alone as he went to get his phone. But fate brought her Busfield during this waiting time.

The next day, the two went out for brunch and have been inseparable since. However, this was not their first encounter. Their paths had first crossed 20 years before they met again at the bar, but the 2012 encounter changed everything. In 2013, Busfield and Gilbert tied the knot.

Gilbert moved to Michigan for her husband, but she clarified that the move was not only for love but for "self-preservation." The actress also confessed that she survived being medically disabled for a while.

She went through spine surgery and could not lift anything for weeks. Gilbert was also asked if moving to Michigan has affected her work, but the actress explained that most of her auditions have been self-tapes. Her goals were to focus on her health and her son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner.

But before finding her happily ever after with Busfield, Gilbert confessed that she almost lost her mind after her divorce from Bruce Boxleitner in 2011. She said she got "fillers and botox" and bought herself a Mustang and a young French boyfriend. "It was like, I lost my mind," she confessed.

Gilbert might not be proud of what she did in the past, but her husband made her aware that all her past mistakes have made her the woman she is today. So, instead of trying to fix what has already happened, Busfield and his wife have chosen to start a quiet life in the Catskills. For Gilbert, it feels like living her on-screen life on the prairie.

Melissa Gilbert's Life on the Prairie

Gilbert and her husband bought their cottage in 2018, but the house needed a lot of work before they could move in. Despite how bad things looked, the couple hoped to turn the abandoned cottage into a home.

Once they looked past the mice and mold, the couple knew they could call the place home. Not to mention that the house had no heat, and the plumbing did not work properly either. They had to empty the house as it still had some of the furnishings from the previous occupants.

While they waited to get the house heated, they got a wood stove to help warm up the place. From there, they added red vinyl chairs and a farm table and decided to use refurbished cabinets and wood from a bowling alley to create floating shelves.

The two also kept a quirky touch with Donald Duck figurines and Coca-Cola syrup bottles. What was more enjoyable about this house was that Gilbert and her husband worked on it together. She revealed that in the past, she would take over how the house looked, but this time, Busfield wanted to be part of the process.

Gilbert remembered peeling off the deer heads on the wall, and it felt like it was going through a lifetime of therapy. The house started reaching its potential when they lifted the ceiling in the kitchen and turned the loft area into a music room.

Living on the outskirts of town also means living a more natural life, like growing different kinds of fruit and vegetables in their garden. Despite how much Gilbert loves her life on the prairie, she once admitted it was difficult.

Her days usually start at 07:00 a.m., but she loves the peaceful morning with a cup of tea that almost feels meditative. But her morning also includes chicken chores like cleaning the coop and feeding her dogs.

Outside of the peaceful life on a farm, Gilbert loves the marital bliss she's experiencing with her husband and seeing eye to eye with him regarding the things around their house.

From watching her husband scrub the roof of their house with heavy chemicals and looking back at the first night in the home, when they only had a mattress to sleep on while waiting for their fridge to be delivered, Gilbert knew that the chaos would result in their forever home.

One of the furniture pieces that the couple did not agree on at first was a brown recliner that Busfield wanted. Despite his wife's skepticism around it, Gilbert had to admit how much she loved the chair and spent time sleeping and knitting in it.

What Gilbert called the "grandpa chair" has become one the most loved and used pieces of furniture. However, coming around to the chair showed how well they worked together as a couple and their harmony in creating this home together.

When Gilbert left Los Angeles, she was only sad about the family she left behind, but living away from the limelight has reawakened her love for the outdoors.