Melissa Gilbert was placed for adoption just one day after she was born.
She was raised by actors Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert. They had not planned to adopt, but they chose to take her home and raise her as their own.
As a child, Melissa was told her birth parents gave her up to focus on their careers. Years later, she learned the truth was different and far less glamorous.
As an adult, she also discovered that her adoptive father had died by suicide. Her family had told her it was a stroke. The secret deeply hurt her.
Despite these painful discoveries, Melissa became a successful child star on Little House on the Prairie.
Today, she lives a quieter life with her husband and family.
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