Melissa Gilbert Advocates for Better Protection of Child Stars in the Wake of Hayden Panettiere’s Death

Kimberlee SpeakmanSat, August 22, 2026 at 7:54 PM UTC

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Melissa Gilbert (left); Hayden Panettiere (left)Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty -

Melissa Gilbert penned an essay on Saturday, Aug. 22, calling for better mental health support and protections to prevent exploitation of child performers

In the essay, she reflected on her own experiences as a child star and the pressures young actors like Hayden Panettiere, Daveigh Chase and Michelle Trachtenberg have faced in Hollywood

Gilbert urges industry leaders to address harmful practices and ensure young actors can prioritize their well-being, especially in the era of smartphones

Melissa Gilbert is speaking out following the deaths of former child actresses Hayden Panettiere, Daveigh Chase and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Nearly a week after Panettiere’s death was announced, the Little House on the Prairie star, 62, is calling for changes to better support young actors in Hollywood as they transition into young adults in a new essay published on Saturday, Aug. 22.

“I did not know Hayden personally and only worked briefly with Mishy and Daveigh. It feels personal because I was them,” Gilbert wrote. She then listed off other female former child stars, including Tatum O’Neal, Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Jodie Foster, Drew Barrymore and her sister, Sara Gilbert.

“We are all members of the same tribe; Female Former Child Performers, and when one of us dies, it runs through all of us like an electrical current,” Gilbert continued, adding, “When three of us die so close together, something is very, very wrong.”

Gilbert said that she believes the trend of the entertainment industry exploiting children before brushing them aside is “getting worse.” She said that it all starts with something called “Doctor Show Syndrome,” which enables kids to perform when “we are sick both physically and emotionally” — something she has endured herself.

Melissa Gilbert in ‘Little House on the Prairie’ (left); and in 2023 (right)Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty;Ted Shepherd/NBCU Photo Bank

“I can’t tell you how many times I worked while horribly sick, injured or worse. My father died when I was just eleven years old and I was back working on Little House within months. And not one single adult on that set discussed it with me or offered condolences,” she recalled. “I later found out that the fear was I would become too upset to work.”

She also said that “set me up for a pattern of working no matter what” and “nearly worked to death a few times.” She recalled one instance when she had an emergency appendectomy right in the middle of shooting a movie in Oregon and went back to work three days later because she “felt so bad that I was affecting the schedule.”

“A few days after that I got sick with a horrible fever. I continued to film a few more days until I finished my work, flew home and was immediately hospitalized hallucinating from the fever. I was on the verge of sepsis,” Gilbert shared.

Melissa Gilbert in 2023Credit: Stephane Cardinale/Getty

The Guest Artist producer said she did this over and over again because she “didn’t want to cause problems or be thought of as unreliable or worse, a diva,” which was something young actors are taught at a young age.

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“These young professionals are children, and we should make sure they are allowed to be children,” Gilbert wrote. “They should be allowed to say ‘no.’ Not push through physical or emotional pain. Not be made to support their entire families. And most certainly not to be followed everywhere they go by cameras, phones and prying, exploitive eyes.”

One of the ideas she suggested was sitting down with the “heads of the studios and networks” and having conversations about “mitigating exploitation.” She said they could also lobby for changes like establishing “accessible free mental health support” for all child actors and figure out a way to shield them from the media.

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“All I know is something has got to be done,” Gilbert said. “I have this image in my mind of Hayden’s little girl who will now grow up without her Mama. She is eleven years old. That’s the same age I was when my father died.”

She continued, “And now I am weeping as I type this and I just want to scream from the rooftops, “ENOUGH!”

Gilbert’s essay comes seven months after her husband, Timothy Busfield, was indicted by a grand jury in New Mexico on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor (child under 13). All of the counts are third-degree felonies and relate to alleged events in October 2022 and September 2023.

The actor, who has been married to Gilbert since 2013, has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. His trial is scheduled to begin in May 2027.

Gilbert previously told Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos in her first interview since Busfield’s Jan. 13 arrest that she is “100% confident he will be exonerated“ and that she believes “justice” would include “exoneration” and “an apology.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”