Melissa Gilbert, an actress, went through a difficult divorce from her second husband, which caused her to lose all sense of self-control.
She was fortunate enough to find a partner who shared her passions. The most exciting part? They were united in their desire to lead a life that was unruffled and uncomplicated. They decided to live the dream life and turned their rundown cottage into the home of their dreams by restoring it themselves after purchasing it.
Melissa Gilbert did not have to struggle to achieve success. She began her acting career when she was nine years old and played Laura Ingalls Wilder, the daughter of Charles and Laura Ingalls, on the television program “Little House on the Prairie.” She stayed on the show for the remainder of its run.
In addition to following the daily activities of the Ingalls family on the farm, the program also carried viewers through Laura’s romantic journey once she first fell in love when she was a teenager. After dating for a few years and falling in love with Almanzo Wilder, who was portrayed by Dean Butler, she eventually married him and created a family with him.
Gilbert’s actual romantic life was a complete train wreck, which is ironic considering how quickly her heroine found love in the story. She married her second husband, Bruce Boxleitner, after being married to her first husband, Bo Brinkman, for six years and had one kid before filing for divorce from him.
One year after she had finalized her divorce, she wed him, and the couple eventually produced a son named Michael. Unfortunately, after 16 years of marriage, Gilbert filed for divorce from her in 2011, alleging “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split.
She was quoted as saying at the time that “We have loved one other for a very long time, and we have four amazing boys together.” the quote is from Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
Gilbert’s experience of going through the rituals of a second divorce was a traumatic one, and she did not count on ever finding love again after going through it. She overcame the challenges she faced thanks to the resilience she had.
The actress ultimately found love with the guy who had been chasing her heart after two troubled marriages and high-profile relationships with heartthrobs such as Rob Lowe. Even though they had met under the most unlikely of circumstances, the two managed to fall in love regardless. After a number of years, the couple finally established their “place of love.”
The actress from “Striking Distance” is the first to acknowledge that the breakup with her second husband was the most difficult of all of her marriages and divorces. It was the romance that lasted the longest in the actress’s whole life, and its conclusion was a difficult and upsetting moment for her.
A aspect of her that she was not totally pleased with surfaced as a result of the divorce. As a result of her divorce, Gilbert revealed the following to Page Six, as reported by the Daily Mail:
“It seemed as though I had gone completely insane.”
She admits to getting Botox and fillers and even purchasing a Mustang. She also admits to having a mustang. But she believes the worst of it was when she was seeing a younger French lover who, while attending a brunch with Gilbert’s mother, donned a T-shirt that said “snatch.”
She recoils in horror at the notion of what her boys thought of her back then, but she harbors the hope that they will see the changes she has made over the last several years and be motivated by her example.
The actress was not the only one to have through a traumatic experience. She said that her son Michael had also been affected negatively by the divorce, and she stated that watching him in misery was the most difficult thing she had ever been through.
Gilbert had a fruitful acting career despite the fact that her personal life was a complete disaster. She appeared in a great number of films, some of which include “Sylvester,” “The Miracle Worker,” and “Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Boss,” amongst a great number of others.
She experienced the glitter and glamour that is a part of every actor’s life, but at her core, Gilbert had a strong yearning for the simple life of the country, which was in keeping with the character she played on “Little House on the Prairie.”
She yearned for a solitary existence, away from the pressure she had to endure as a Hollywood actress, which drove her to do things that were beyond her comprehension in order to stay relevant in the business. She wanted to live in seclusion. Leaving Los Angeles was the one and only option for her to realize her dream of living such a life.
She was finally able to make that goal a reality when she wed her third husband, Timothy Busfield. When Gilbert and Busfield first met, Busfield had just gone through a divorce and, like Gilbert, he was eager to begin a new chapter of his life somewhere else.
The two finally came to the conclusion that Michigan would be the best place for them to start their lives together. The first five years of the couple’s marriage went by without a hitch, but eventually, the couple’s insatiable need for a life in the countryside forced them to start searching farther east. Gilbert writes as follows:
“It became essential for us to have a location from which we could go away,” you said.
Gilbert’s statement that her husband located a property that was for sale and that looked adorable and sold for a reasonable price is true. However, when they checked it out, they discovered that the inside was covered in mold and mildew, reeked horribly of must, and was littered with the things that had been owned by the person who had lived there before.
Gilbert recalls the various bottles of shampoo and soap that were stored in the shower, the cereal boxes that were kept in the pantry, and, of course, the decaying deer heads that were hung on the walls.
Even though the render was chipping and the timbering was only partially done, the two believed that it had the potential to become their joint retirement home. They spent $98,000 to acquire the 14-acre property in the state’s upstate region and immediately set to work. According to Gilbert:
“As I glanced up at one of the decaying deer skulls that had been mounted on the wall, a lifetime of treatment started to kick in, and I thought to myself that I could do something about this situation.”
They decided to call it “The Cabbage,” and as soon as the deal was finalized on the land, they started formulating a strategy for the redesigns and improvements they wanted to do.
They were resolute in their goal to construct a house out of the debris, and they planned to accomplish it in stages. They began by installing all new plumbing, as well as a gas tank and a boiler. In spite of their limited funds, they were able to start putting their house together little by bit.
Today, it has many unique characteristics, such as a fireplace, floating shelves constructed of repurposed bowling alley wood, and wooden stairs going up to the top level. Additionally, it has a number of other features.
The couple had a few disagreements over what to do with their new house, including one about a brown pleather reclining chair that Gilbert at first thought was dreadful but that she gradually grew to adore, but everything worked out in the end. The couple is quite happy in the house that they designed and built together.
And the most exciting thing is… They save money by growing their own food and avoiding trips to the grocery store. The actress keeps hens and even raises her own veggies and fruits in her backyard garden. Although it is not a kind of life that a lot of famous people would choose for themselves, Gilbert and her husband couldn’t be happier with how their lives have turned out.