Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert made a major discovery about her family in recent weeks, revealing that she had finally contacted her biological brothers after being adopted as a baby. Melissa was adopted by Barbara Cowan and Paul Gilbert, as her birth parents had run off together despite being married to other people and were not able to care for her.
The 62-year-old took to Instagram to share the special news, alongside a black-and-white snap of her as a young girl, smiling in the garden. “Well, this has been a remarkable few weeks,” she began in the caption, before launching into the sweet story.
“For those who don’t know, I was adopted at birth. For which I will be eternally grateful,” she continued. “Decades ago, I found my birth father’s family. Including my three older half-siblings.”
Melissa explained that her relationships with those half-siblings were “fraught” and “not what I’d hoped”, yet she was grateful for them all the same. The actress added that she had connected with a distant biological cousin on her mother’s side, who was able to put her in contact with the siblings that she never knew about.
“I’d always wished for a big brother, and I found out I have three,” she wrote, adding that their names were Matt, Laird and Mark (the latter of whom passed away several years prior).
Melissa then reposted Matt’s social media message, which revealed that the former child star was his relative. “After 66 years, I learned that my brothers Laird Steven E. Paine and Mark A. Olson Sr. and I have a biological sister!” he shared. “Unfortunately, Mark is no longer here to share in the excitement, but his son Mark Olson is.”
© MediaPunch via Getty Images“Some of you already know this story, but many of you don’t. It’s been an incredible few weeks of discovering family history, sharing stories, asking a million questions, and getting to know someone I never knew existed,” he said.
“That little sister is @melissagilbertofficial!… Before anyone asks, the part that means the most to me isn’t that she’s a public figure. It’s that we’ve finally found each other after a lifetime apart.”
© Corbis via Getty Images“I’m looking forward to seeing where this new chapter leads. Family has a funny way of finding each other, even after 62 years,” Matt concluded. Melissa has been open about her past, and explained that her mother had been an exotic dancer and her father a car racer and musician.
© NBCUniversal via Getty Images“They left their spouses for each other and got married after [getting] pregnant with me and moved all the kids in, so I was number seven. So the decision was made to put me up for adoption,” she explained on The Patrick LabyorSheaux.
She never met her biological mom, but the brunette beauty did reach out to her father in 1990 after her eldest son was born.
Read the full article here
