This “Little House on the Prairie” star isn’t letting Megyn Kelly get away with her absurd take on Jeffrey Epstein’s preference for young girls.
Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls on the classic show from 1974 to 1983, took to Instagram to show the former Fox News host just how bonkers her recent comments about the late sex offender were.
Kelly said during her Sirius XM show last week that Epstein “liked 15-year-old girls” before trying to make a completely unnecessary point.
“I realize this is disgusting. I’m definitely not trying to make an excuse for this. I’m just giving you facts, that he wasn’t into, like, 8-year-olds,” the controversial conservative host said.
“He liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were, but would look legal to a passerby,” Kelly said.
She later also made the stunning claim that “there’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?”
“Whatever. It’s sick. Every time we start talking about Epstein, it makes your skin crawl,” Kelly said, describing “the whole thing” as “just disgusting.”
Gilbert took issue with Kelly’s comments and participated in an Instagram hashtag trend in response.
“I debated posting this but, I feel compelled to share,” the actor said. “After seeing many women’s posts with the hashtags #iwasfifteen #imfifteen #iwasachild, I decided to google search myself at that age and see what came up.”
“And this is some of what I found…and now, at this age, at this time, I am actually nauseated,” she said, describing some of the photos in her Instagram carousel.
“The girl on vacation in Hawaii with her family, is the same girl who was expected to ‘fall in love with’ and kiss a man on film who was several years older than she was,” Gilbert added. “Through the lens of today, this is shocking. I have no words other than to say, ‘I WAS A CHILD.’ ‘I WAS FIFTEEN.’”
“And I was the good news,” she said. “Thank God my mom and [‘Little House on the Prairie’ actor Michael Landon] and so many others were there to make sure I was safe. Can you imagine if I hadn’t had them all? I am so fortunate (Sort of). Many other young women aren’t. @megynkelly you need to be careful with your words.”
Many in the comments praised Gilbert for speaking up and condemned Kelly’s words with equal ferocity.
“I’m so glad you said this,” actor and singer Cheyenne Jackson said. “I’ve actually thought about this often. You and I have spoken about little house of course, but you really were just a young girl. So glad you had a team of support and family protecting you. But still.”
Another Broadway star, Laura Benanti, wrote “I’ve always admired you so much. Now even more so.”