Yahoo Lifestyle Melissa Gilbert Reveals Why Her Marriage With Timothy Busfield Works
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When it comes to iconic actors starring on television, there's no one more memorable than Melissa Gilbert portraying Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. And as she gets ready to guest star on When Calls the Heart, she's lucky to have another actor in her life to navigate the world of Hollywood — her husband of 11 years, The West Wing star Timothy Busfield.
The twosome's road to romance is pretty unconventional when it comes to love in the spotlight. While many acting couples meet on set, Melissa and Timothy actually met at a bar across the street from Los Angeles' Universal Studios in 2012. As Timothy told People in May 2022, he popped in there for a slice of pizza when he noticed one other person sitting at the bar. What's more, the two were both single after both being divorced (Melissa separated from second ex-husband Bruce Boxleitner in 2011, while Timothy's second marriage to Jennifer Merwin ended in 2007).
"I remember so clearly grabbing pizza and then looking in the door to make sure there wasn't a lot going on," he shared at the time. "There was one person sitting at the bar and [Melissa] had a fedora on. I couldn't tell who it was, but I knew it was problematic... I knew she was the one. It felt so real."
That fateful meeting eventually turned into a romantic relationship blossoming between Melissa and Timothy. It wasn't long before they announced their engagement in January 2013, with Melissa's rep stating Timothy had proposed during the holiday season. Just three months later in April 2013, the couple dropped another surprise: they had quietly wed in a romantic private ceremony in Santa Barbara, California.
"Eleven years ago today," Melissa wrote on Instagram when commemorating the couple's wedding anniversary in April 2024. "I am the luckiest girl in the world. @timbusfield I love you ♾️! #infinity #anniversary #luckygirl #lovemyhusband."
Even though Melissa and Timothy may have steady work in Los Angeles, the married duo decided they'd make an escape to a slower life on the East Coast. After moving to New York City in 2018, they eventually found themselves making a home upstate in Highland Lake, New York. As for the reason behind the change, Melissa told The New York Times in May 2022 they loved the idea of having a place where they can recharge from the hustle of their jobs.
"It became important for us to have a place where we could escape," she explained to the outlet. "This is one of those places that most people would say, 'Are you nuts?' if you expressed interest in buying it. But Tim and I are the best kind of nuts. We’re hopeful visionaries. We knew this house would shelter us well and serve us well."
Given how the two are both in the entertainment industry, you'd think they'd find ways to work together, right? That's exactly what Melissa and Tim did in March 2020, when they launched the Gilbert and Busfield podcast.
Even though their joint project concluded in September 2020, the longtime couple always finds ways to support one another for their career accomplishments. Melissa even posted an Instagram of her husband guest starring on Billions in June 2024, trying to convince the Television Academy to award him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
What's more, Melissa and Tim love to celebrate their blended family. As Melissa shared in a touching Father's Day post in June 2022, she celebrated Timothy and their sons being parents.
So, what makes Melissa and Timothy's relationship work after all this time? As she shared with People in September 2024, it all comes down to the fact they rarely find themselves mad at one another.
"It's all of the good things that a relationship should be," she shared at the time. "There is rarely drama, and if there is drama, it's not caused by us. It comes from outside, and we handle it in a much different way... By the time you get to be the age we were when we met, you know what you don't want. Even more than you know what you do, you know what you will not put up with ever again and that changes everything."
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