Hollywood has the power to change not only how we see life in general but also how we see ourselves as people, whether we like it or not. We are always shown a glamorous life full of perfect people. People who don’t have acne, wrinkles, or cellulite. And if something like that can affect us even though we don’t live that life, think about how hard it must be for people who are living the Hollywood dream.
She was brought up in Hollywood. For real.
Gilbert started working in TV when she was still a child. As a child actress, she did a number of guest-starring roles and commercials. She was only nine years old when she got the part of Laura Ingalls on the TV show Little House on the Prairie, which was one of the main roles. This was her big chance to be an actress.
After the show ended, she mostly starred in movies made for TV.
Melissa became obsessed with the shallow expectations of the Hollywood industry after she stopped acting as a child.
Botox and plastic surgery was the norm for her. “I grew up in an industry that values the outside considerably more than the inside, and I was caught in that wheel of trying to stay young,” she revealed.
She said in her book that the breakup with her second husband, Bruce Boxleitner, sparked the so-called “midlife crisis” and gave her another reason to change how she looked. “Being a single woman in your 40s in Los Angeles is a whole different league of pressure. And being an actress looking for work in an industry obsessed with youth ratchets that up even further. I reacted as many women I encountered did: I attempted to freeze everything in place.”
She eventually started to feel bad about all of the changes she had made to her look.
Her head was always where it needed to be, which was on the idea that she needed to be thin, wear the right shoes, drive the right car, and so on. But she never felt like that was the right decision. Even though this was the case, she stuck to her lifestyle until the day the roof of her patio fell on her head, giving her a concussion.
She saw that bad luck as a sign that her life was getting worse and worse and that she couldn’t do anything about it. “I finally woke up and went, ’What am I doing? I look like a carrot top, and I’m not happy,’” she revealed. “Your face doesn’t move. Your breasts are too big. You’re with the wrong guy. The list went on.”
She wanted to start getting older in a more natural way, but she couldn’t do that because she lived in Los Angeles.
After Gilbert married her third husband, Tim Busfield, who was the love of her life, the two of them moved to a rural area in Michigan to get away from the busyness of the youth-chasing scene. Gilbert has always loved Tim Busfield. Melissa’s journey toward self-love and acceptance began there.
“I cut off all my hair and quit doing Botox and all that stuff. I love all these changes and watching what’s happening and getting to know this new person. I also feel so much stronger, and I feel like I’ve really earned my opinions,” she admitted.
Melissa also had her breast implants taken out, which she thinks was one of the smartest things she’s ever done. “I found the courage to just be me,” she revealed in an interview. “I decided to age gracefully and appropriately and let my body and my face become whatever they are going to become.”
Melissa is finally happy with how she looks and how her life is going now that she is 58 years old.
Gilbert and her husband found a home in Highland Park. After moving in together, they lived a quiet, rural life there. As a result of her new way of life, she learned how to farm, especially how to grow vegetables and raise chickens to get eggs.
“I was always trying too hard to fit the mold that someone else wanted,” says Melissa. “I’m finally happy in my own skin. I’m so grateful and relieved and so much happier.”
Do you think that Melissa’s Botox makes her look better, or do you think she looks better without it?
