{"id":41001,"date":"2026-04-04T14:36:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41001"},"modified":"2026-04-04T14:36:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T14:36:34","slug":"melissa-gilbert-defends-husband-timothy-busfield-as-actor-faces-child-sexual-abuse-charges-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41001","title":{"rendered":"Melissa Gilbert defends husband Timothy Busfield as actor faces child sexual abuse charges | New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Melissa Gilbert has staunchly defended her husband and fellow actor Timothy Busfield in her first interview since New Mexico prosecutors charged<\/a> him with child sexual abuse in early February.<\/p>\n

In part of a conversation scheduled to be broadcast on Monday on Good Morning America but circulated in advance as a preview, Gilbert told ABC host George Stephanopoulos that she believed the Emmy winner whom she married in 2013 to be \u201cthe last person in the world who would hurt a child\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former Little House on the Prairie cast member also suggested Busfield would have problems with her that were more serious than any prison sentence could be if he hurt children.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\u201cThis has been the most traumatizing experience of our lives \u2013 our life as we knew it is done,\u201d Gilbert said to Stephanopoulos. \u201cWe are grieving what we had. All of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects \u2026 for Tim, it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s canceled and this will never \u2013 even if he\u2019s exonerated, he will always be that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilbert\u2019s remarks came about two months after a grand jury in Albuquerque, New Mexico\u2019s largest city, handed up an indictment charging Busfield with four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child.<\/p>\n

A related criminal complaint filed against Busfield accused him of inflicting the acts at the center of the case between November 2022 and the spring of 2024 on the set of the TV drama series The Cleaning Lady, for which he was a director and actor.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Melissa Gilbert, with attorney Larry Stein, reacts after a judge granted Busfield pretrial release on 20 January 2026 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. <\/span> Photograph: Sam Wasson\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Busfield, 68, was accused of inappropriately touching one boy in particular over his clothing once when the child was seven years old and another time at age eight. The boy\u2019s twin brother also reported allegedly being touched by Busfield.<\/p>\n

The former Revenge of the Nerds, West Wing and Field of Dreams star later pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. He also dismissed<\/a> the accusations as \u201call lies\u201d in a video shared with entertainment outlet TMZ.<\/p>\n

Despite his assertion of innocence, Albuquerque authorities have cited what they portray as a pattern of sexual misconduct amid Busfield\u2019s work. Prosecutors\u2019 filings detailed an allegation against the actor that he groped a 16-year-old girl while she auditioned at Sacramento\u2019s B Street Theatre, which he co-founded. The court filings said the matter concluded with Busfield going to therapy and the girl\u2019s family agreeing not to take the matter to police.<\/p>\n

Then, in 1994, a 17-year-old extra on the movie Little Big League claimed Busfield assaulted her after serving her alcohol. Busfield, a star of Little Big League who had won an Emmy for his performance on Thirtysomething three years earlier, maintained he was being extorted and settled the allegations privately. Yet he was ordered to pay $150,000 in costs after he unsuccessfully argued that the claims against him had been fabricated.<\/p>\n

A 28-year-old woman separately alleged in 2012 that Busfield fondled her at a Los Angeles movie theater. Busfield indicated the act was consensual, and neither a criminal case nor civil litigation was brought against him.<\/p>\n

Gilbert\u2019s comments to Stephanopoulos echoed a statement she previously issued<\/a> in which she said she supported her husband but had been advised to otherwise avoid speaking publicly while the child molestation allegations against him were unresolved. Busfield is tentatively scheduled to go to trial in May 2027 \u2013 he has been allowed to await that proceeding from out of New Mexico authorities\u2019 custody.<\/p>\n

Stephanopoulos asked Gilbert, 61, why she was now speaking out. She replied: \u201cIt\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Gilbert has staunchly defended her husband and fellow actor Timothy Busfield in her first interview since New Mexico prosecutors charged him with child sexual abuse…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}