Why Melissa Gilbert decided to leave Hollywood – insights from the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ actress

Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert is opening up about the real reason she left Hollywood behind.

“I just didn’t feel like that was a safe place for me to age. It’s so anti-aging, which is one of my least favorite expressions in the world,” she told Page Six in an interview published on Saturday, January 25. “Anti-aging means dead.”

The actress, 60, added that she felt a lot of pressure to “not get any older” and to also “stay a size 2 or 4” while working in the industry.

She went on to explain how things changed for the better once she moved across the United States to Manhattan. “I went from, ‘Oh God, I better not get older!’ to ‘Oh God, I’m so glad I’m older!’” she said. “I love the age I am right now. Sixty has been the most incredible year, just to look back on all the things I’ve done and to know that I’ve earned my opinions, I have value, I am wise.”

Turns out, Gilbert has moved on from Hollywood in more ways than one — her next project is the off-Broadway play Still, in which she stars opposite Mad Men’s Mark Moses. The play — which opens on February 6 — follows a former couple who reconnect after 30 years apart. Gilbert says the part gave her the opportunity to revisit her past relationships.

“I will say that both of those times when I was single again, there was a weight that was lifted and a peace that filled my home because I didn’t have to clamp down on my opinion or not start an argument because I disagreed,” Gilbert confessed.

Gilbert was previously married to Bo Brinkman from 1988 to 1994. She moved on and married Bruce Boxleitner in 1995 and until their divorce in 2011. Gilbert later wed her third husband, Timothy Busfield, in 2013.

Despite leaving Hollywood in her rear-view and moving across the country, Gilbert said she still has a lot of love for Los Angeles — something that came into sharper focus in the wake of the devastating wildfires this month.

“I did not realize the depth of love that I have for my hometown until the wildfires,” she explained. “The amount of people I know who have lost everything, and not movie stars and television stars.”

On Friday, January 24, several people — including former reality stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt — filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and its Department of Water and Power (LADWP) after their homes were destroyed by the wildfires that devastated parts of the greater Los Angeles area.

“LADWP and City of Los Angeles had a duty to properly construct, inspect, maintain and operate its water supply system,” the suit reads, per Rolling Stone. “The Palisades Fire was an inescapable and unavoidable consequence of the water supply system operated by LADWP and City of Los Angeles as it was planned and constructed. The system necessarily failed, and this failure was a substantial factor in causing Plaintiffs to suffer the losses alleged in this Complaint.”

In addition to Spencer and Montag’s house burning down, Spencer’s parents, who resided nearby, also lost their home.