Melissa Gilbert has reunited with her Little House on the Prairie costar Melissa Sue Anderson — and says the two are choosing to move forward with a fresh start.
On Saturday, Dec. 27, Gilbert shared a backstage group photo on Instagram from her off-Broadway show, Pen Pals. The picture included Gilbert, Anderson, Gilbert’s current costar Veanne Cox, and stage icon Betty Buckley.
In her caption, Gilbert wrote that she’d been “keeping a secret close to my heart for a while now”: she and Anderson have reconnected after years of publicly acknowledging they weren’t particularly close during the series.
“Worlds collide. Blessings abound. Hearts heal and reunite. Magic happens. Last night after @penpalsplay my genius costar @veannecox had a surprise in the audience. Boy am I glad I didn’t know in advance that the remarkable @blbuckley was there,” Gilbert, 61, wrote.
She added that she’d been privately rebuilding a bond with Anderson through “long, healing talks,” along with plenty of reminiscing, laughter, and a few tears.
“I’m so happy to have Melissa Anderson back in my life. We share such an important history that no one else on earth truly understands. Just us Ingalls girls,” Gilbert continued. “The best part is, the past is now just that and we can move forward as the sisters/friends we always wanted to be.” She ended the post by calling it a meaningful Christmas gift, adding: “#littlehouseontheprairie #ingallsgirls #sisters #friends #happy @officialmodernprairie @lhprairie.”
Gilbert and Anderson, 63, played sisters Laura and Mary Ingalls on the NBC series, which ran from 1974 to 1983. While their characters shared a close relationship on screen, both actresses have previously described their real-life dynamic at the time as cordial but distant.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/Melissa-Gilber-Melissa-Sue-Anderson-Little-House-on-the-Prairie-122725-ee086decdb45464892d6e5eff350cfe8.jpg)
In her 2009 memoir A Prairie Tale, Gilbert wrote that their relationship during filming often felt more professional than personal, shaped by differences in age and personality. She has also said Anderson could be “tough” on her both on and off camera.
In a filmed interview reflecting on the show, Gilbert recalled, “Melissa Sue Anderson was the boss of me,” adding that the age gap felt significant when they were children and that Anderson took that role seriously.
Anderson has also spoken about how different they were. In a March 2010 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she said the two were “very, very different,” adding, “I honestly do not have a lot of memories of the two of us.”
