Melissa Gilbert poses for a headshot. (AP)
"Little House on the Prairie" star Melissa Gilbert is leaving her small-town Michigan life for New York City — after years of laying roots in the Midwest, including a short-lived run for a Michigan congressional seat.
The TV star from the 1970s and ‘80s ─ along with her Emmy-winning actor-director husband Timothy Busfield ─ will be leaving their restored Victorian house built in 1890 for a place in the Big Apple.
Gilbert, also a former president of the Screen Actors Guild, says she and Busfield are “starting from scratch” and claims they are moving for work reasons.
“I'm kinda in semi-denial,” Gilbert admitted on a local radio show Friday, adding that the couple has already been living full time in New York since October, the Detroit Free Press reported.
“This has been the most incredible five years, just being here," she recalled of her life in Michigan. “I was trying to describe what Michigan has meant to me and what being here has meant to me and the best way to describe it is to say it's been my blanket. I've been safe and comfortable and happy and at peace and content and this has been the perfect place to have that."
“A bit like ‘Green Acres’ without the farm and glamour.”
Previously, she told Fox News that her life in Michigan ─ in a town of about 9,000 people ─ was “a bit like ‘Green Acres,’ without the farm and glamour.”
“For the first few weeks it was a bit like living in an exhibition in ‘Jurassic Park’ because they had never seen anything like us here. People would drive by really slow looking at the house. It felt like we’re the T-Rexes. It's kind of evened out now,” she continued.
“For the first few weeks it was a bit like living in an exhibition in ‘Jurassic Park’ because they had never seen anything like us here."
Gilbert said at the time that they came to the state to “create a film and television and theater industry” and take advantage of a “great tax-incentive package for films and television” and “an amazing talent pool here.”
The move to Michigan for artistic reasons turned political after Gilbert announced her candidacy for a U.S. House seat in 2015. But she abruptly ended her run due to health reasons.
An estate sale will be held later this month, selling off some of her treasured assets, including "Little House" memorabilia such as sheet music for the show signed to her by the composer and some electronics.
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