Melissa Gilbert is saying goodbye to eight years of memories in her New York City apartment.
“So long perfect little one bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. The last eight years here have been so special,” Gilbert, 62, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, June 22. “A lot of amazing work was done in and around this city. So many theaters and soundstages. So many wonderful dinners with friends and nights out on the town.”
While Gilbert didn’t provide a specific reason for the move, she expressed hopes of a return in the future.
“I promise we will be back, it’s just that right now…..well….you know,” she wrote. “Excited to live in our wonderful home upstate full time for a good long while. #nyc #goodbye #alwaysanasventure #happytrails #alwaysintherightplaceattherighttime.”
The Little House on the Prairie actress’ post comes as her husband, Timothy Busfield, continues to fight allegations in a child sex abuse case.
Busfield, 69, was first indicted on child sex abuse charges by a grand jury in New Mexico on February 6. The actor was specifically indicted on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child, the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office said in a press release obtained by Us Weekly at the time.
Busfield — who has pleaded not guilty to the charges — recently filed a motion to quash the grand jury indictment.
“Timothy Busfield is innocent. This motion describes egregious prosecutorial misconduct during grand jury proceedings, thereby preventing the jurors from hearing testimony, witnesses and evidence even after repeated requests by the grand jury itself,” Busfield’s civil attorney Stanton “Larry” Stein claimed in a statement to Us earlier this month. “The government repressed and suppressed exculpatory evidence, misstated the law and failed in the most basic due process afforded any person under either Constitutional or State laws designed to protect actual innocence from abuse of government power.”
Gilbert has stood by her husband and called his arrest “the most traumatizing experience of our lives.”
“Our life as we knew it is done,” she said on Good Morning America in April. “We are grieving what we had — 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. [He’s] the last person in the world who would hurt a child.”
In her latest social media post, Gilbert shared the things she will miss most about her neighborhood as she says goodbye to a property she fell in love with.
“I’ll miss the walking and our neighborhood, the subway rides, the amazing people I’ve met there and on the streets. This city truly has a pulse,” she explained after packing up U-Haul boxes. “You can feel it in your heart. Goodbye favorite newsstand, bodega, dance studio and laundry. Goodbye shoe repair, dry cleaners, nail salon. Goodbye sweet neighbors whom we love so much. And a very fond ‘farewell and see you soon’ to our favorite city in the world.”
