Not so wholesome.
“Little House on the Prairie” is back with a new Netflix show, now streaming. The original ’70s series had the ultimate family-friendly image — but behind the scenes, the cast of the classic show was embroiled in several scandals.
Based on the popular book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published in the 1930s), the original TV show was a classic of the era, airing on NBC from 1974 to 1983 (and also inspired several TV movies).
Set in the 1800s, the story followed the pioneer Ingalls family living their rural frontier life in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
It starred Michael Landon as Charles “Pa” Ingalls, Karen Grassle as Caroline “Ma” Ingalls, Melissa Gilbertas Laura Ingalls, Melissa Sue Anderson as Laura’s sister, Mary, and twins Lindsay and Sydney Greenbush as the third child, Carrie. Shannen Doherty was also in Season 9.
In honor of the new show, here’s a look back at the scandals from the original.
Michael Landon told dirty jokes and talked about his sex life
“In the public eye, he had this squeaky clean image. But he told some of the dirtiest jokes I’ve ever heard,” former cast member Rademes Perna told Fox News in a June 2020 interview.
Landon, who also directed and produced the show, died at 54 of pancreatic cancerin 1991. The real-life father of nine was notorious for his behind-the-scenes behavior that clashed with his onscreen image.
His onscreen wife, Karen Grassle, now 84, told Good Day New York in a 2021 interview that Landon would tell filthy jokes about the female anatomy when they were shooting scenes in bed together.
In December, she told People that she held “resentment” and “anger” at her onscreen husband for his antics.
In her 2021 book, “Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma” she wrote that he would openly talk about his “libido.”
“I didn’t want to think about his penis,” Grassle wrote, adding that he would be “jubilant at the makeup table,” boasting about “the benefits of bee pollen for the aging male.”
Landon had an affair with a teenager who worked on the show
Landon was still married to his second wife, Marjorie Lynn Noe, when he had an affair with Cindy Clerico. At the time, Clerico was 18 and Landon was 43. She went on to be his third wife, from 1983 until his death.
Clerico worked on the show — first as a stand-in for actress Melissa Francis, then as a makeup artist.
Gilbert had looked up to her onscreen dad as a real father figure, and used to vacation with Landon and his second wife. She refused to attend his nuptials with Clerico.
She wrote in her own 2009 memoir, “Prairie Tale”: “I can’t take sides [in his divorce], yet he’s done something that’s turned my world into angry, opposing sides… I was put in a horribly uncomfortable position.”
Doherty defended Landon on a 2024 episode of her podcast, “Let’s Be Clear with Shannen Doherty.”
Shortly before her death at 53 from cancer, the actress said, “I don’t care what anybody else’s experience was like. I know the truth about that man, and he was just unbelievable.”
Melissa Sue Anderson allegedly had a beef with Rademes Perna
Perna, now 65, played John, who was Mary’s love interest in Seasons 2 and 3. Behind the scenes, however, their relationship wasn’t so friendly.
Perna told Fox News in 2020 that some of the cast members “warmed up to me right away, and others did not.”
He cited Anderson, 63, as part of the latter group.
“Melissa Sue, who I was supposed to have the most interaction with, was a couple of years younger than me. She was probably 13 and I was 15,” he noted.
When their characters’ relationship turned romantic, “I think that she just wasn’t ready for that type of acting yet.”
The “Kung Fu” actor added that despite his “best efforts to be professional with her” and work on developing “the on-screen chemistry between our characters,” she refused to “have any part of that.”
He called it “very frustrating” as a “professional actor” to be met with “that kind of, what really amounts to basically unprofessional resistance.”
Melissa Gilbert and Anderson’s decades-long feud
The onscreen sisters reportedly had a cold relationship behind the scenes. In her memoir, Gilbert said she never found a “sisterly kinship” with Anderson because she “wasn’t easy to get along with.”
In a resurfaced video interview, Gilbert said, “She was tough on me both off and on camera, but on camera especially.”
Speaking on Harvey Brownstone Interviews in 2024, Anderson attributed her behavior to being “a very shy child.” She added, “I wish I had been…more easygoing about everything.”
In December 2025, Anderon and Gilbert reunited, took a photo together, and said that they put their decades-long feud behind them.
At the time, Gilbert wrote on Instagram that the former onscreen sisters had a series of “long, healing talks.”
She added, “The past is now just that and we can move forward as the sisters/friends we always wanted to be.”
Gilbert supported her husband through child sex abuse charges
In January, Gilbert’s husband, Timothy Busfield, was slapped with child sex abuse charges, on allegations that he inappropriately touched 7-year-old twin boys while working on Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady” in 2022.
That same month, Gilbert publicly spoke out to support him,posting on Instagram, “The reality is that Tim Busfield is my love, my rock, my partner in business and life. He is my comfort and my council.”
She also said that her husband has “the strongest moral compass of any human I have ever known.”
Busfield, who denied the allegations, was formally charged Feb. 6 with four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child under 13.
On Feb. 21, “The West Wing” actor pleaded not guilty after waiving his arraignment and appearances at pretrial proceedings. His trial is scheduled to start in May 2027.
Gilbert supported her husband at court hearings and wrote a letter to the judge, calling him “my sweet husband” and imploring the judge to keep him “safe.”
During a “Good Morning America” interview in June, she revealed that she was aware of previous sexual assault allegations against Busfield before they married in 2013.
“I’m neither naive nor am I complicit,” Gilbert said. “I talked to him about it. I asked him questions about it. I heard his side of the story — which nobody has ever heard — which is the truth,” she claimed.
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