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Melissa Gilbert needed big bre-sts for this role
Melissa Gilbert, who starred as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, recently shared in her memoir how she became insecure about her body while filming the show.
The family drama first aired on NBC in 1974 and centered around the Ingalls family led by Charles “Pa” Ingalls (Michael Landon) and Caroline “Ma” Ingalls (Karen Grassle).
However, Gilbert’s character, Laura, became a central focus of the series.
As the show progressed, Gilbert started working on other projects, including the TV movie Splendor in the Grass in 1981.
Although the film had the same crew as Little House on the Prairie, Gilbert had to be more dolled up for it and wear a padded bra, which she also did on her NBC hit.
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Gilbert revealed in her memoir, Prairie Tale, that while filming the show, she wore a padded bra because she “didn’t have any b–bs to speak of,” and once you were a woman on the show, you couldn’t be smaller than a B cup.
But when she wore a padded bra on Splendor in the Grass, the effect was entirely different.
After Little House on the Prairie ended, Gilbert struggled to land mature roles.
In a June 2018 interview with Today, she said that she went from being “encouraged just to be me, crazy buck teeth and all” to doubting her body image.
Gilbert eventually got breast implants in an attempt to cure her insecurities.
She said that she looks at her younger self and thinks she was a “strong young woman,” but it wasn’t good enough, and she wasn’t curvy enough, which messed with her head.
Gilbert also had a nose job after her 18th birthday because she compared herself to other Hollywood actresses and “fell right into that trap,” she admitted.
Throughout her career, Gilbert struggled with her decision to have plastic surgery.
However, when she landed a spot on Dancing With the Stars in 2012, she saw positive changes in her body and decided to have her breast implants removed.
During her interview with Today, Gilbert also noted that her husband, Timothy Busfield, was supportive of her feeling and looking like her best self.
He encouraged her to stop dyeing her hair entirely and not to get any more plastic surgeries.
