Melissa Gilbert directly addressed her husband Timothy Busfield’s charges of criminal sexual contact with a minor for the first time on Monday. According to the actress, she is “100% confident he will be exonerated.”
She spoke exclusively to “GMA” anchor George Stephanopoulos, alongside Busfield’s civil attorney Larry Stein. Gilbert noted that she “wasn’t capable” of speaking out about the situation — Busfield turned himself over to police in January, and was officially indicted in February — until now, because “it’s been a very traumatic time.” She is also speaking now, she said, because there’s been too much “untruth” surrounding the scandal.
“He is nothing if not completely honest with me. I trust him with my children’s lives, with my grandchildren’s lives, my nieces and nephews,” Gilbert defended. “He is — he is an honorable, caring, generous human being.”
Busfield was indicted in New Mexico in February on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, stemming from accusations on the set of “The Cleaning Lady.” It was alleged that he inappropriately touched a child actor on the set of the Fox TV show, which he was directing at the time.
“Our life as we knew it is done. We are grieving what we had,” Gilbert said. “All of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects. For Tim, it’s done. He’s canceled … even if he’s exonerated, he will always be that guy. The last person in the world who would hurt a child.”
That said, Gilbert noted that she is “100% confident he will be exonerated.” On Feb. 26, the actor/director entered a not guilty plea in court. Still, his wife admitted that “we do have to be prepared for all scenarios.”
“And believe me, if I thought for a second that Tim Busfield hurt a child, he’d have a lot more to worry about than prison,” she concluded.
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