Gilbert recently returned to Instagram amid her husband Timothy Busfield's ongoing legal issues
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NEED TO KNOW
- Melissa Gilbert says she’s uncovered a unique connection between her own birth family and her on-screen family
- In an Instagram post, the actress shared that she recently discovered her birth father’s middle name was Manly
- “Manly” was also the nickname Laura Ingalls, whom Gilbert portrayed in Little House on the Prairie, gave to her husband
Melissa Gilbert says she's uncovered a unique connection between her own birth family and her on-screen family in Little House on the Prairie.
In an Instagram post shared on Tuesday, May 26, the 62-year-old actress wrote, "I was today years old when I found out my birth father, David Darlington's middle name was ….. MANLY!"
"Manly" was also the nickname Laura Ingalls, whom Gilbert portrayed in Little House on the Prairie, gave to her husband, Almanzo Wilder.
"Thank you to my fifth cousin, @harleesco for being such a stalwart researcher. I also learned that my birth mother, Frances Catherineanne Wood (Cathy), was born on April 26, 1935. My mother, Barbara Gilbert-Cowan was born on April 26, 1936!!!!!!" Gilbert added in the caption.
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Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved books of the same name, Little House on the Prairie documented the lives of people in the American Midwest in the late 1800s. The series ran for nine seasons and three TV movies from 1974 to 1984.
Gilbert famously began playing Laura Ingalls at just 9 years old and starred on the show for its entire run, with her performance earning her a Golden Globe nomination in 1981.
The actress was adopted at a young age. While her birth mom died before she was able to meet her, the actress did get in contact with her birth father.
“I didn't tell him who I was, and then he asked me, ‘Well, who are you? What do you do?'” she shared on a July 2025 episode of Patrick Labyorteaux's podcast. “And I said, ‘Well, here's the thing.' And I said, ‘Did you ever watch Little House on the Prairie?' And he said, ‘You're Laura, aren't you? I knew it.' He knew it.”
Credit: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Elsewhere in her Instagram post, Gilbert wrote: "I'm going to turn comments back on for this one. It's just too coincidental and there might be other birth relatives out there who see it. If things get weird, or nasty, I'll turn them off again but I know there are so many people out there with similar stories and experiences. I'm compelled to share mine and want, very much, to hear yours."
Gilbert had recently turned Instagram comments off amid her husband Timothy Busfield's ongoing legal troubles. The West Wing actor, 68, was indicted by a grand jury in New Mexico on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13) on Feb. 6. All counts are third-degree felonies and pertain to alleged events in October 2022 and September 2023.
Busfield, who has been married to Gilbert since 2013, has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
The actress deleted her social media account when the child sex abuse allegations surrounding her husband were first brought to light, but returned to Instagram on Tuesday, May 13.
Gilbert previously told Good Morning America in an interview given after Busfield's arrest that she is "100% confident he will be exonerated," and that she had spoken with Busfield about the allegations. "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," she said.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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