Latest / Fresh Intelligence / EXCLUSIVE: Friends Rally Round Shattered Melissa Gilbert - 'Prairie' Pals and Family Help Her Navigate Timothy Busfield Child Abuse Scandal
Transcript
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- 0:18[SPEAKER_00]: Headline, Melissa Gilbert leans on friends and it has been Timothy Busfields, Child Sex Charges.
- 0:23[SPEAKER_00]: Asterisk, Melissa Gilbert is reeling after her husband, Timothy Busfield turned himself in on child sex charges.
- 0:29[SPEAKER_00]: Source reveals she is heavily relying on support from Hollywood friends and former co-stars, who are urging her to file for divorce.
- 0:36[SPEAKER_00]: Busfield, 68, denied allegations of being a child predator following charges from 11-year-old twin boys, relating to alleged sexual assaults during the filming of the Fox TV series Asterisk, the cleaning lady Asterisk.
- 0:49[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, Gilbert's former Asterisk little house on the Prairie Coastars, Allison Arngrim and Dean Butler, are standing by her during this trying time.
- 0:57[SPEAKER_00]: Their heart broke in that she's having to go through this and inside her comment.
- 1:01[SPEAKER_00]: While many feel she should move on from busfield to avoid the impact of the allegations, some in her inner circle maintain his innocence.
- 1:08[SPEAKER_00]: In court, busfield, whom Gilbert married in 2013, was charged but released on his own recognisance.
- 1:14[SPEAKER_00]: In a defense filing, his lawyers presented audio from a police interview conducted in November 2024, which they claim exonerates him.
- 1:21[SPEAKER_00]: During the interview, an officer asks the boys if Bustfield ever touched their private parts, to which both responded negatively.
- 1:28[SPEAKER_00]: One child even stated, but he didn't touch that part.
- 1:31[SPEAKER_00]: The bail judge expressed that the evidence against Bustfield was not overwhelming, opining.
- 1:36[SPEAKER_00]: I don't find that there's been sufficient presentation that this defendant may commit new crimes if released pending trial.
- 1:42[SPEAKER_00]: Despite this, an insider described Gilbert as absolutely shatter.
- 1:46[SPEAKER_01]: She expressed feeling as though a bomb went off in the middle of her life, as she attempts to piece together what remains.