{"id":41941,"date":"2026-08-21T18:14:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941"},"modified":"2026-08-21T18:14:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:14:01","slug":"this-girl-became-a-successful-child-star-after-bio-parents-gave-her-up-to-family-who-had-no-plans-to-adopt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941","title":{"rendered":"This Girl Became a Successful Child Star after Bio Parents Gave Her up to Family Who Had \u2018No Plans\u2019 to Adopt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Melissa Gilbert was born in Los Angeles in 1964 and adopted just one day later by Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert. Growing up, she was told an idealized story about her biological parents, but she later discovered that many of those details were inaccurate. Her biological mother had worked as a dancer, while her father was a stock car racer and sign painter<strong>&#8230;. Continue Reading \ud83d\udd3d<\/strong><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>Melissa became especially close to her adoptive father, Paul. When he died in 1976, she was initially told that he had suffered a stroke. Years later, she learned that he had actually died by suicide, a revelation that deeply affected her and led her to search for answers about what had happened.<\/p>\n<p>The truth caused enormous grief, but Melissa eventually sought professional help and came to understand that Paul had been living with severe physical pain and emotional struggles. She later forgave her adoptive mother for keeping the truth from her and became more open about mental health, suicide prevention, and the complicated emotions surrounding family secrets.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the difficulties of her childhood, Melissa built a remarkable career, becoming famous as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie. Over the years, she has spoken candidly about adoption, grief, identity, and healing. Her story shows how painful beginnings and hidden truths can shape a life without ultimately defining it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melissa Gilbert was born in Los Angeles in 1964 and adopted just one day later by Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert. Growing\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Girl Became a Successful Child Star after Bio Parents Gave Her up to Family Who Had \u2018No Plans\u2019 to Adopt - New50<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941&page=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Girl Became a Successful Child Star after Bio Parents Gave Her up to Family Who Had \u2018No Plans\u2019 to Adopt - New50\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Melissa Gilbert was born in Los Angeles in 1964 and adopted just one day later by Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert. Growing\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"New50\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-21T18:14:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941\",\"name\":\"This Girl Became a Successful Child Star after Bio Parents Gave Her up to Family Who Had \u2018No Plans\u2019 to Adopt - New50\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-21T18:14:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-21T18:14:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/#\/schema\/person\/da88e42c726d55d6ba22ebb67b1b7e81\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/\",\"name\":\"New50\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/#\/schema\/person\/da88e42c726d55d6ba22ebb67b1b7e81\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd05dac79fb9ad8be13382df68a551f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd05dac79fb9ad8be13382df68a551f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new50.info\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Girl Became a Successful Child Star after Bio Parents Gave Her up to Family Who Had \u2018No Plans\u2019 to Adopt - New50","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941","next":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941&page=2","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Girl Became a Successful Child Star after Bio Parents Gave Her up to Family Who Had \u2018No Plans\u2019 to Adopt - New50","og_description":"Melissa Gilbert was born in Los Angeles in 1964 and adopted just one day later by Barbara Crane and Paul Gilbert. Growing\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941","og_site_name":"New50","article_published_time":"2026-08-21T18:14:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941","url":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941","name":"This Girl Became a Successful Child Star after Bio Parents Gave Her up to Family Who Had \u2018No Plans\u2019 to Adopt - New50","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-21T18:14:01+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-21T18:14:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/#\/schema\/person\/da88e42c726d55d6ba22ebb67b1b7e81"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=41941#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new50.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/782367737_1399413058995317_1973247917246051857_n.jpg","width":512,"height":640},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new50.info\/","name":"New50","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/#\/schema\/person\/da88e42c726d55d6ba22ebb67b1b7e81","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new50.info\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd05dac79fb9ad8be13382df68a551f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cd05dac79fb9ad8be13382df68a551f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41943,"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41941\/revisions\/41943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new50.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}