Melissa Gilbert participated in an interview on April 18, 2011, in which she discussed her adoption. Her given name was revealed to be Babygirl Darlington since her father was David Darlington and her mother was Kathy Wood.
The engaged couple gave up the star shortly after birth. The future actress found a permanent home within 48 hours and was given the name Melissa Gilbert by her adoptive parents.
Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert adopted the star when she was just 24 hours old. She was born on May 8, 1964, at the French Hospital in Los Angeles, which no longer exists.
Paul was a stand-up comedian, actor, and dancer who began his career as an aerialist in a Buenos Aires-based family circus. Barbara was a young actress in her twenties, but her career was cut short.
Melissa was always aware that she was adopted. The actress wrote in her memoir, “Prairie Tale: A Memoir,” that she was taught as a youngster that her mother, Kathy, was a prima ballerina and her father, David, was a Rhodes Scholar.
Her adoptive parents stated that her birth parents were unwilling to give up their occupations to raise her. Melissa’s father was stated to be in the middle of a project, and the time of the delivery was off, so they had to give up their daughter.
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Melissa discovered the truth about her parents when she was old enough. Kathy was a dancer but hardly a prima ballerina, while her father raced stock cars and painted signs.
Kathy and David were both married to other people and had three children. They went away together, became pregnant, and moved in with their kids until they realized they couldn’t afford the seventh.
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Following the death of Melissa’s stepfather, the “Little House on the Prairie” actress was astounded to learn more about her adoption. Mitzi, Melissa’s godmother, looked into the day Melissa’s adoptive parents picked her up from the hospital.
She admitted that the Gilberts’ reappearance with their new child surprised her. This astonished the actress, who, along with other family members, turned to gaze at Barbara, who admitted, “I mean, we had no plans to adopt a child.”
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Barbara stated that she and her husband were not seeking a child until they received a phone call informing them that Melissa would be available. When the celebrity’s adoptive mother phoned her husband, who was on the road, he urged her to “‘go get it.'”
Melissa Gilbert informed the “CBS Sunday Morning” interviewer that she would never conceal such a serious secret from her children.
Melissa was surprised to hear herself referred to as “it,” but Barbara clarified that she hadn’t yet been born. Barbara later said that they had been attempting to conceive when they were notified about her.
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According to Barbara, the Gilberts had not contemplated adoption until they received the call while undergoing reproductive treatments. Melissa revealed in a July 2020 interview how secretive her adoptive family was.
During an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” the actress disclosed that her father died of a stroke when she was 11 years old. However, at the age of 45, she found that he had committed suicide.
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Everyone in the star’s life, including herself, was kept in the dark. She informed the journalist that she would never conceal such a serious secret from her children.
Melissa believed that such secrets were detrimental to families. The actress is currently married to her third husband, Timothy Busfield, and she is a mother and grandma who grew up watching “Little House on the Prairie.”
Melissa’s first child from her first marriage to actor Bo Brinkman was Dakota Paul Brinkman. Michael Garrett Boxleitner, the star’s second child, was born when she married her second husband, Bruce Boxleitner.