‘Little House on the Prairie’ Star Melissa Gilbert Says Her Salary from the Show is ‘Long Gone’
We might like to think that Hollywood’s most memorable stars have everything they could possibly need—money, fame, the usual accolades. However, despite that longheld stereotype, “Little House on the Prairie” alum Melissa Gilbert revealed that that’s not necessarily true.
On top of her iconic role in the classic TV drama, Melissa Gilbert has also seen success as a writer. That’s not to mention her experience as a director and producer. Nevertheless, Fox News reports she revealed during an interview that she and her husband, Timothy Busfield, keep a budget and that all the money she’s made from her time on “Little House on the Prairie” is long gone.
“We live on a budget like [most] people do,” she told the outlet. “We are gig workers. Neither of us is in a long-running series right now.”
That said, it makes paydays unpredictable.
“I was [in a long-running series] – 50 years ago,” Gilbert continued, but, “I don’t know where people think that money’s gone. And the concept the outside world has of what residuals are is just so far from the reality.”
She provided an example of that, giving us a little bit of perspective.
“I just a got a check for 20 cents,” the “Little House on the Prairie” star revealed. “The stamp [to mail it] costs more!”
Melissa Gilbert continued, “I’m not poo-pooing my experience on ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ but that salary is long gone.”
Melissa Gilbert Talks Spending Habits Following ‘Little House on the Prairie’
Age provides perspective when it comes to money, and now, decades after “Little House on the Prairie” concluded, Melissa Gilbert is revealing how her spending habits have changed since playing Laura Ingalls Wilder.
“It’s different from what I was accustomed to for a good chunk of my life,” the actress told the outlet. “I was reckless in my spending habits, because the assumption was that it would never go away, and then it started to go away.”
Now, the actress revealed she is much more careful about her money and her budget. In fact, Melissa Gilbert revealed that, following the release of her latest book Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade, A Life Rediscovered, she’s even begun to grow her own food. She and her husband Timothy Busfield also remodeled their home together.
“I have learned to be very mindful of my expenses,” the “Little House on the Prairie” star said, “and prioritize what really matters.”
Gilbert said that while she’d thought she’d been doing well at prioritizing before, the pandemic heightened her sense of what’s valuable.
She quipped during the interview that one thing that definitely doesn’t matter is shoes. It seems that Gilbert’s more natural lifestyle has her more in tune with what are wants and what are needs.
