I just finished reading "Prairie Tale" - the memoir by Melissa Gilbert, the star of Little House on the Prairie. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and learned a lot about her life. Some highlights:
* she was adopted
* her half-sister is Sara Gilbert, who starred on Roseanne and is currently on Big Bang Theory
* she considered Michael Landon her second dad
* she was very close to her mother and her grandfather was a Hollywood bigwig
* Michael Landon drank and smoked a LOT
* she was engaged to Rob Lowe
* she married playwright Bo Brinkman and had a son
* she did drugs, but not a lot by Hollywood standards
* she divorced Bo Brinkman
* she married Bruce Boxleitner (from TV's How the West Was Won and Scarecrow & Mrs. King - he's always been one of my favorite TV actors) who has two sons
* she had another son with Bruce
* she had a drinking problem
* she very much disliked Kent McCord (Adam 12), who was a nemesis while running for President of the Screen Actor's Guild
* there is bad blood between her and Valerie Harper (Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda) because they ran against each other for SAG President (Melissa won)
There is much more than that to her story. It was enjoyable to read, and even though she had her share of being a bit "wild", her story is fairly mild compared to other celebrities.
I would highly recommend this book, especially if you were a fan of Little House of the Prairie or any of the numerous TV movies she has made over the years.
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