Melissa Gilbert was only two months postpartum with her first child when Brinkman brought another woman into their home. In “Prairie Tale,” Gilbert claimed that she wandered downstairs to feed their then-infant and stumbled upon the scene. Once Gilbert found out that Brinkman had hired a sex worker, she became increasingly angry. Brinkman didn’t express any remorse for cheating and blamed his decision on Gilbert. Eventually, Gilbert contemplated whether or not she should stay in the marriage.
Despite Gilbert’s candidness in her memoir, she hasn’t spoken much in recent years about Brinkman or their marriage, which ended a few years later. However, she briefly mentioned her past marriages while speaking about marrying Timothy Busfield later in life. “The big thing is that you know what you don’t want, we both been through it,” Gilbert said on “Good Morning America” in 2022. “We both have a couple of marriages behind us. And I think we’re both craving just a more peaceful partnership or be alone.”
