METRO
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 News host how crazy 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 attempting to make a completely unnecessary comment.
“I realize this is disgusting. I’m definitely not trying to make an excuse for this. I’m just giving you facts, that he didn’t like 8-year-olds,” the controversial conservative host said.
“He liked the types of very young teenagers who could pass for even younger than they were, but who would appear legal to a passerby,” Kelly said.
He also later made the surprising 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, your skin crawls,” 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 it,” the actor said. “After seeing a lot of posts from women with the hashtags #tengofifteen #tengofifteen #iwasachild, I decided to Google that age and see what came up.”
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“And this is some of what I found… and now, at this age, at this moment, I’m actually nauseous,” she said, describing some of the photos on her Instagram carousel.
“The girl who was vacationing in Hawaii with her family is the same girl who was expected to ‘fall in love’ and kiss a man in the movie who was several years older than her,” Gilbert added. “Through today’s lens, this is shocking. I have no more words to say: ‘HE WAS A BOY.’ ‘HE WAS FIFTEEN.'”
“And I was the good news,” he said. “Thank God my mom and [‘Little House on the Prairie’ actor Michael Landon] and many others were there to make sure he was safe. Can you imagine if I hadn’t had them all? I’m very lucky (sort of). Many other young women are not. @megynkelly you need to be careful with your words.”
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Many in the comments praised Gilbert for speaking out and condemned Kelly’s words with equal ferocity.
“I’m so glad you said this,” said actor and singer Cheyenne Jackson. “Actually, I’ve thought about this often. You and I have talked about the little house, of course, but you were really just a little girl. I’m so glad you had a support team and a family protecting you. But still.”
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Another Broadway star, Laura Benanti, wrote: “I have always admired you very much. Now even more.”