Did Hollywood Undervalue Melissa Gilbert? Inside Her Real Net Worth

She’s delivered for Hollywood as an actress and director, but the industry hasn’t returned the favor: at 61, Melissa Gilbert’s 2025 net worth is estimated at just $500,000 — reportedly combined with her husband’s.

Melissa Gilbert has been on our screens basically forever, so this next part might surprise you: at 61, the former Little House kid is reportedly sitting on about $500,000 in net worth. That number apparently includes what she shares with her husband, actor-director Timothy Busfield, since they married in 2013. It is not the glamorous Hollywood figure you might expect, and there are reasons for that — some personal, some financial, and some very 2008.

The money: why the $500,000 figure keeps coming up

As of 2025, multiple reports peg Gilbert’s net worth around $500,000, with the caveat that it reflects the combined picture with Busfield. A big chunk of the story is not about what she made, but what life took back: a stalled period in her acting career, the recession, a divorce, and a nasty run of tax trouble that landed her on the IRS’s radar more than once. Her per-project salaries are not public, but the résumé is long and legit.

The tax mess, in plain English

In 2015, the IRS said Gilbert owed more than $360,000 in unpaid federal income taxes and filed a $360,551 lien in Michigan’s Livingston County. Odd wrinkle: the lien listed an address tied to a suite on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, California, even though Gilbert had been living in Howell, Michigan, since 2013. If you have not had the pleasure, an IRS lien is the government staking a legal claim to your stuff — homes, cars, income — until the bill is settled.

It was not her first dust-up with the tax man. In 2013, she reportedly owed $112,000. She later set up a payment plan. At the time, she called it a perfect storm of bad timing and bad luck:

'Like so many people across the nation, the recession hit me hard. That, plus a divorce and a death of acting opportunities the last few years, created a perfect storm of financial difficulty for me.'

The work: from prairie icon to Batgirl

Gilbert broke out in 1974 as Laura Ingalls on NBC’s Little House on the Prairie, beating out more than 500 other kids for the part. The show ran through 1982, then spun into Little House: A New Beginning in 1983, plus a handful of TV movies. After that, she worked steadily in TV films and features: Sylvester, Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife, Killer Instinct, Without Her Consent, Forbidden Nights, The Lookalike, Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story, Cries from the Heart, The Soul Collector, Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, and Christmas in My Hometown.

She also voiced Barbara Gordon/Batgirl on Batman: The Animated Series from 1992 to 1994, headlined the legal drama Sweet Justice as Kate Delacroy from 1994 to 1995, and popped up on Dancing with the Stars in 2012, getting bounced in week eight.

Real estate: where the money went (and where they live now)

Details on assets are thin, but here is what is clear: Gilbert and Busfield own a 14-acre property in New York’s Catskill Mountains, and that is home base now. They previously had a place in Tarzana, Los Angeles, which they listed for $1.195 million in 2014.

Relationships, kids, and the long road to Busfield

• Early 1980s: Engaged to Rob Lowe; they split before making it down the aisle.
• 1988–1992: Married actor Bo Brinkman; they divorced and share a son, Dakota.
• Early 1990s: On-off with actor-author Bruce Boxleitner, engaged twice and twice called off.
• 1995–2011: Married Boxleitner for real; they had a son, Michael. She filed for divorce in August 2011, citing irreconcilable differences. She requested joint custody and did not seek spousal support. The split itself was not publicly costly, but that whole period fed into the later tax issues.
• 2013–present: Married Timothy Busfield; they have lived in Michigan and now the Catskills.

She has been open about addiction — and recovery

Gilbert’s 2009 memoir Prairie Tale lays it out: alcohol and drug abuse crept in as she got older. She told Entertainment Tonight in 2012 that things escalated in her late 30s after her grandfather died; sleep got hard, wine got easy. During her marriage to Brinkman, drinking became part of the routine. At her worst, she says she was putting away two bottles of wine a night. The wake-up call was ugly but simple: she passed out in the dog’s bed while hosting a dinner, and her son asked her to stop. She joined a 12-step program — Alcoholics Anonymous — and has been sober for years.

Not just acting: union boss and a brief turn toward Congress

Gilbert won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001, beating Valerie Harper, and won again in 2003 against Kent McCord before opting not to run for a third term. In 2015, she announced a run for the U.S. House in Michigan’s 8th congressional district. She won the Democratic primary and was the presumptive nominee, then suspended the campaign in spring 2016 because of health issues.

Awards snapshot

Gilbert’s awards shelf reflects the arc of her career. She scored a Primetime Emmy nomination in 1980 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special for The Miracle Worker (she played Helen Keller). She was up for a Young Artist Award that same year for Little House on the Prairie, and landed a Golden Globe nomination in 1981 for Best Actress in a Television Series, Drama, again for Little House. She received another Young Artist nod for Splendor in the Grass; some summaries list it as a win, but the awards tallies typically show it as a nomination. She did win the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series for Little House in 1983–1984, plus a Golden Boot in 2000 and a TV Land Award in 2006 for Most Memorable Kiss (Little House).

The bottom line

Gilbert’s net worth looks low next to her fame, but the context matters: a career slowdown, the recession, a costly personal chapter, and tax problems will drain anyone’s bank account. The flip side is a long list of credits, union leadership, a credible (if short-lived) political run, and years of sobriety. Not the standard Hollywood story — and probably why it is more interesting.