NEED TO KNOW

• Melissa Gilbert is speaking out amid her husband Timothy Busfield’s legal issues

• Busfield was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13), all of which are third-degree felonies, in February

• Gilbert spoke out on during an interview with Good Morning America, in which she also addressed her husband’s past allegations of sexual assault from the ’90s and 2012

Melissa Gilbert is speaking out about husband Timothy Busfield‘s past allegations of sexual assault.

The actress sat down for an interview with Good Morning America‘s George Stephanapolous that aired on Monday, April 6. Stephanopolus asked about two previous allegations of sexual assault against Busfield from 1994 and 2012. The Albuquerque Police Department officer who issued the warrant against Busfield pertaining to his latest charges referenced “two separate” prior incidents of sexual assault against Busfield, one from the 1990s and another around 2012.

“I need to make something abundantly clear. These allegations have been out in the ether for a very long time,” Gilbert, 61, said of her husband, whom she married in April 2013.

“When Tim and I got together, the internet existed. I didn’t go into my relationship blind. I’m neither naive nor am I complicit,” she said. “I talked to him about it. I asked him questions about it. 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.”

Busfield’s previous accusations include an accusation involving a 17-year-old extra on Little Big League who “sued in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming Busfield assaulted her, served her alcohol, groped her, attempted sex in a trailer.” Per the warrant, Busfield denied the allegations and countersued for extortion. That dispute settled, and his later “defamation bid against her lawyers got tossed, leaving him to foot nearly $150,000 in costs. No charges filed.” (After Busfield appealed the costs award, the parties settled the case.)

The second past allegation dates to March 18, 2012, when a 28-year-old woman accused Busfield of battery in an L.A. movie theater, alleging he “slipped hands under clothes, touched genitals for four minutes,” per the arrest warrant. No lawsuit was filed, prosecutors “passed due to slim evidence” and Busfield “called it consensual,” per the warrant.

Busfield surrendered to police on Jan. 13 after an arrest warrant was issued by the Albuquerque Police Department on Jan. 9 regarding allegations that he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with two 11-year-old boys, whom he met on the set of Fox’s The Cleaning Lady. He was charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse on allegations that he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with 11-year-old twin boys.

The actor, 68, was released from custody on Jan. 20 after a pretrial detention hearing in San Bernalillo, N.M., and on Feb. 6, he was indicted by a Bernalillo County grand jury on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13). Busfield pleaded not guilty to all four counts — which are all third-degree felonies and pertain to events in October 2022 and September 2023, per court documents — on Feb. 10, per a plea entry filed in New Mexico’s Second Judicial District Court.

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A rep for Gilbert told PEOPLE that the Little House on the Prairie alum and Busfield’s lawyer Larry Stein wanted to speak with Stephanopoulos because she “decided it was time to sit down to clarify the facts of the case, which seem to have become lost to distraction, selective information and clickbait.”

During the interview, Gilbert said it’s been “hell” ever since her husband was arrested. “This has been the most traumatizing experience of our lives.”

“Our life as we knew it is done,” she said. “We are grieving what we had — all of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects. For Tim, it’s done. He’s canceled. Even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy.”

Gilbert said her husband of 13 years is “the last person in the world who would hurt a child.”

“No one knows him better than I do. I know literally everything about him. Our marriage has, you know, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve been through struggles, we’ve had our own issues to deal with and we worked through everything,” she said. “He’s nothing if not completely honest with me. I trust him with my children’s lives, with my grandchildren’s lives, my nieces and nephews. He is an honorable, caring, generous human being.”

Busfield also spoke out before he surrendered to police on Jan. 13 in a video obtained by TMZ at the time. “I did not do anything,” he said on camera. “They’re all lies and I did not do anything to those little boys and I’m gonna fight it. I’m gonna fight it with a great team, and I’m gonna be exonerated, I know I am, because this is all so wrong and all lies.”

In a Jan. 26 statement shared via her company, Modern Prairie, Gilbert spoke about the “extraordinarily difficult” situation she and her family are in.

“This season has reminded me, very clearly, how important it is to slow down, prioritize what truly matters, and allow ourselves moments of rest. Stepping back from the noise, the news, and even our daily responsibilities from time to time gives us space to recharge, reflect, and find our center again,” she wrote.

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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