After « Little House on the Prairie » star Melissa Gilbert’s biological father saw her on television, he knew that she was his child.
After Melissa Gilbert’s biological father saw her on television, he knew that the young actress was his child.
The former child star, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder in “Little House on the Prairie,” recently appeared on her co-star Patrick Labyorteaux’s podcast, “The Patrick LabyorSheaux.” She described what it was like getting in contact with her birth father after she welcomed her son Dakota in 1989.
“I didn’t tell him who I was, and then he asked me, ‘Well, who are you? What do you do?’” Gilbert recalled.
“And I said, ‘Well, here’s the thing… Did you ever watch ‘Little House on the Prairie?’ And he said, ‘You’re Laura, aren’t you? I knew it.’ He knew it.”
“He could see,” the 61-year-old shared. “And when I met my half-siblings, we all looked alike. So you could definitely see it… It’s pretty clear.”
Labyorteaux, who was also adopted, said he had a similar experience. Like Gilbert, his birth mother died before he was able to find her.
“I never met her, but I met her family, who was a stepfamily,” the actor explained. “She had three kids that she had inherited from the husband that she married. So, she had three kids, but they weren’t her biological kids. She only had one biological kid… They would watch ‘Little House’ and when I would show up… because of my eyes, they would go, ‘Oh, that’s probably your kid.’ And they would make fun of her like that… They were right.”
Gilbert was adopted by actors Barbara Cowan and Paul Gilbert. Her biological parents were also in entertainment. According to the star, her birth mother was an exotic dancer and her father was a stock car racer and musician.
“It was pretty clear that it was in me,” said Gilbert on pursuing showbiz. “… All the kids are performers on both sides of that family. So it was genetic and environmental.”
“They were each married to other people and had three children each and ran off together and conceived me on a motorcycle trip in the desert,” she said.
