Melissa Gilbert is closing the door on the Manhattan apartment she has lived in for the past eight years, sharing that she and husband Timothy Busfield are making a full-time move upstate as he faces child sex charges in New Mexico.
The Little House on the Prairie actress, 62, posted a series of photos to Instagram on Tuesday showing her one-bedroom Upper West Side home stacked with moving boxes, including one memorable shot of Gilbert lying on the floor amid the packing frenzy.
“So long perfect little one bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. The last eight years here have been so special,” Gilbert wrote in the caption.
The images captured rows of neatly marked U-Haul boxes filling the apartment’s living area, with household belongings and kitchen items organized for the transition. In another photo, Gilbert stretched out on a rug in front of the packed boxes, while a final picture showed the apartment as it looked before the moving process began.
Gilbert also looked back fondly on the years she spent in New York City, noting that “a lot of amazing work was done in and around this city.”
“So many theaters and soundstages. So many wonderful dinners with friends and nights out on the town,” she added.
The actress said she would miss the everyday energy of Manhattan, from strolling through her neighborhood and riding the subway to the familiar faces and unexpected encounters that shaped her time there.
“This city truly has a pulse. You can feel it in your heart,” Gilbert wrote.
Melissa Gilbert lies on the floor of her apartment amid moving boxes while packing up the Manhattan apartment she called her ‘perfect little one bedroom’
The Little House on the Prairie star’s Upper West Side apartment is packed floor-to-ceiling with moving boxes as she prepares to leave the home she has rented for eight years
Melissa Gilbert and husband Timothy Busfield are planning to live full-time at their upstate New York home ‘for a good long while,’ Gilbert said
She then paid tribute to the small businesses and familiar faces that had become part of her daily routine.
‘Goodbye favorite newsstand, bodega, dance studio, and laundry. Goodbye shoe repair, dry cleaners, nail salon. Goodbye sweet neighbors whom we love so much,’ she wrote.
But the actress’s farewell took on a more pointed turn as she addressed why she and Busfield, 69, are leaving their New York base for now.
‘I promise we will be back it’s just that right now…..well….you know,’ Gilbert wrote. ‘Excited to live in our wonderful home upstate full time for a good long while.’
‘And a very fond “farewell and see you soon” to our favorite city in the world,’ she added.
Gilbert has been married to Busfield since 2013.
The move comes as the West Wing actor fights a criminal case in New Mexico, where he has been charged with four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child under the age of 13.
A grand jury indicted Busfield on February 6 over allegations tied to alleged incidents in October 2022 and September 2023. Each count is a third-degree felony.
Gilbert also gave viewers to her Instagram a tour of her small Upper West Side apartment
Busfield, 69, pictured in January, was indicted by a grand jury, accused of touching two children on set set while filming in Albuquerque between November 2022 and spring 2024
Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert has returned to Instagram last month after taking a four month break. She left the platform amid her husband’s child sex abuse charges
Busfield has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The charges involve two child actors who worked on The Cleaning Lady, the television series on which Busfield served as a producer and director between 2022 and 2025.
Last week, Busfield asked a judge in Albuquerque to throw out the indictment, with his legal team arguing that prosecutors failed to present evidence that they say would have favored him.
His attorneys said the grand jury was not told that an independent Warner Bros. investigation did not find evidence of wrongdoing, according to court filings.
They accused the state of pursuing an indictment ‘at the cost of the evidence, [his] rights and the independence and integrity of the grand jury.’
The lawyers also alleged that prosecutors had been ‘willfully blind’ to evidence they say supports Busfield’s innocence and said the accusations were ‘patently false, implausible, and the results of an expressed vendetta against him.’
His legal team further said Busfield passed a lie detector test in which he denied inappropriately touching one of the accusers, and that the Warner Bros. review included affidavits from witnesses who spoke in his defense.
The Little House On The Prairie star – who married The West Wing actor in 2013 – maintained her husband’s innocence while also revealing that she had known of his past sexual assault allegations before their marriage (they are seen together in December 2012)
Busfield turned himself in to New Mexico authorities in January and was later released from jail.
A judge said at the time that he had not demonstrated a pattern of criminal behavior.
A status hearing is scheduled for June 30, while a tentative trial date has been set for May 10, 2027.
The actor is known for roles in Field of Dreams, Little Big League and Revenge of the Nerds, as well as television work in Thirtysomething and The West Wing.
He has also directed episodes of series including The Client List, The Night Shift and Designated Survivor.
