Actress Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie) has left Hollywood to live in a modest cabin in the mountains
Sylvie Claire / May 12, 2022
Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert and her husband have abandoned the hills of Hollywood for the glittering stars of the Catskills Mountains located in New York State.
Melissa Gilbert, 58, is now enjoying a simpler life after trading in her $2 million Los Angeles estate for a $98,000 cottage nestled in the wilderness.
The interpreter of Laura Ingalls spends her days tending to her vegetable garden and her yard. She told Fox News that she has given up plastic surgery and Hollywood's expectations of her looks to embrace the freedom of being in her own skin.
This is me now, no hair color, no implants, no Botox. I just take care of myself. I try to eat the best I can. I drink a lot of water. And I really enjoy the aging process because of that.
In the end, everyone loses. It just doesn't fit who I am and what my life is now. It's exhausting and it's pointless. I had to find a place where I could stop trying or feeling like I needed to be what everyone else wanted me to be and be exactly who I am.
A few weeks ago, she also confided to People magazine her change of look and her decision to opt for her real hair color: I finally woke up and said, 'What am I doing? I look like a carrot and I'm not happy.
Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls on the hit TV series Little House on the Prairie
from 1974 to 1982, revealed in her 2010 memoir how she struggled with drugs and alcoholism. She also underwent multiple plastic surgery procedures throughout her career and had a string of relationships with some of Hollywood's top actors, including Tom Cruise.
The actress, who once admitted to drinking two bottles of wine on her own, said she was attracted to men who smelled of alcohol after starring alongside series creator, producer and star Michael Landon, who was sipping vodka from his coffee cup.
After several rehabs, Melissa Gilbert preferred to leave Hollywood and its addictions for a simpler life, close to the one she played on screen as Laura Ingalls.