Melissa Gilbert and Melissa Sue Anderson Squash Their Feud after ‘Long, Healing Talks’: More about their Relationship
Find out what the actresses thought of one another while portraying sisters on-screen
After a decades-long rift, the Ingalls sisters have finally reunited and mended fences. Melissa Gilbert and Melissa Sue Anderson, who portrayed Laura and Mary Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie respectively, have had tension between them for many years. Both actresses had their own thoughts on their inability to get along, from their difference in age to their personalities.
But more than 40 years after the series came to an end, it seems the on-screen sisters have reconciled, with Gilbert sharing the news via an Instagram post.
“Worlds collide. Blessings abound. Hearts heal and reunite. Magic happens…” Gilbert wrote in an Instagram post. “But I had a secret of my own. One I’ve been keeping close to my heart for a while now. Reconnection with a sister. Long, healing talks. Lots of reminiscing. Lots of catching up. Lots of laughter and a few tears. I’m so happy to have Melissa Anderson back in my life. We share such an important history that no one else on earth truly understands. Just us Ingalls girls. The best part is, the past is now just that and we can move forward as the sisters/friends we always wanted to be. What a wonderful Christmas gift.”
What they’ve said about each other
Both Gilbert and Anderson have made comments about their relationship and how they never got along very well. Gilbert opened up about it in her 2009 memoir, Prairie Tales.
“We played sisters and were only a couple years apart in age, but from the start, for whatever reason, we never had a real sisterly kinship,” Gilbert wrote in her book. “There was a distance to her, a coldness, though sometimes I wonder if it was just that I never knew how to get her to let me in. She wasn’t easy to get along with. I think her reserve came across on-screen and was certainly apparent offscreen, whereas I wore my emotions as if they were a neon green T-shirt that glowed in the dark.”
Anderson opened up about their relationship in a 2010 interview, explaining, “I honestly do not have a lot of memories of the two of us. We were very, very different.”
But in 2024, Anderson addressed her on-set behavior and the claims about her being cold, explaining that it had more to do with her shyness than her apparent dislike of Gilbert.
“I was a very shy child,” Anderson shared in 2024. “I wish I had been more outgoing so I could have enjoyed it more and been more easygoing about everything. I never wanted to be in trouble.”
Their age difference may have been a factor
Not only did the two have differences in their personalities but their two-year age gap might have played a role in their not getting along. Although Gilbert and Anderson’s personalities clashed from the beginning, Gilbert also attributed their problems to their different stages of life.
“From the moment we walked onto that set, Melissa Sue Anderson was the boss of me,” Gilbert shared in an interview. “She took that absolutely seriously. She was two years older than me, which, you know, when you’re 9 and 11 is a big deal.”
However, it seems as though their feud is water under the bridge, with the two reuniting recently and finally getting all of their issues out in the open.
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