Melissa Gilbert backs hubby Timothy Busfield in child sex abuse case
· Toronto Sun
Actress Melissa Gilbert is speaking out in defence of her husband Timothy Busfield, who has been accused of sexual contact with a minor.
Busfield, who is best known for his roles on The West Wing and Thirtysomething , pleaded not guilty after he was charged earlier this year with four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child under age 13.
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Speaking with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired Monday, Gilbert was asked about other allegations of abuse that Busfield faced in the 1990s and 2010s.
According to Fox News , Busfield faced a sexual assault allegation from a 17-year-old in 1994. The Emmy winner settled that case, but faced another accusation of inappropriate touching in 2012.
Prosecutors declined to pursue that case due to “slim evidence.”
“When Tim and I got together, the internet existed. I didn’t go into my relationship blind. I’m neither naive nor am I complicit,” Gilbert, 61, said of her husband, to whom she has been married to since April 2013. “I talked to him about it. I asked him questions about it. I heard his side of the story — which nobody has ever heard — which is the truth. And when the time is right, and that is not now, Tim will tell the truth of all of these past allegations when he needs to.”
“Our life as we knew it is done. We are grieving what we had.”
— ABC News (@ABC) April 6, 2026
Melissa Gilbert speaks out on charges against Timothy Busfield and how it has impacted their lives. https://t.co/UnrKvKOux7 pic.twitter.com/lLj6H8waoQ
Recent allegations stem from directorial work
The most recent allegations against Busfield stem from his work as a director on the set of the TV series The Cleaning Lady from 2022 to 2024.
Busfield has denied the accusations and has said he will “fight these charges at every stage.”
According to The Associated Press , a child actor said the first incident happened when he was seven years old and he alleged that Busfield touched him three or four times. Busfield is also accused of touching him five or six times on another occasion when the alleged victim was eight.
The AP reported that the child has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, with a social worker saying he has had nightmares about Busfield touching him.
The boy’s twin brother also alleged he was touched by Busfield, but said he didn’t say anything initially because he didn’t want to get in trouble.
In a video shared with TMZ , Busfield called the allegations “lies.
“I did not do anything to those little boys,” the 68-year-old actor said, “and I’m going to fight it.”
He also suggested that the boys’ mother was trying to get back at him for replacing the kids on the series.
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‘I know this man in my bones’
Speaking to Stephanopoulos, Gilbert insisted Busfield is innocent, saying “no one knows him better than I do.
“I know this man in my bones … I know literally everything about him. Our marriage has had a lot of ups and downs, we’ve been through our struggles, we’ve had our own issues to deal with and we’ve worked through everything. He is nothing if not completely honest with me. I trust him with my children’s lives, with my grandchildren’s lives, my nieces and nephews. He is an honourable, caring, generous human being,” the Little House on the Prairie alum said.
Gilbert went on to add that their life together has been forever altered, even if Busfield is found innocent.
“Our life as we knew it is done. We are grieving what we had. All of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects,” Gilbert said. “For Tim, it’s done. He’s cancelled … even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy. The last person in the world who would hurt a child. 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.”
In a statement shared with Us Weekly after segments of Gilbert’s interview were posted online, Busfield’s civil lawyer, Larry Stein, noted: “We appreciate George for taking the time to clarify some important facts in this case. We hope the remainder of the interview airing on tonight’s Nightline will make clear that the parents are criminals: one served more than three years in jail and lost their license to practice law for defrauding 1,500 people of $6,000,000, and the other for writing bad cheques and stealing cars.”
Gilbert said she is speaking out in support of her husband in a bid to combat the “untruths” in his case.
“I am 100% he will be exonerated,” she said.
Busfield’s trial is set for next year.