Melissa Gilbert has defended her husband, Timothy Busfield, after he was charged with four counts of criminal sexual intercourse with a child as he awaits trial.
“This has been the most traumatic experience of our lives,” Gilbert told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an April 6 interview via video previewed Thursday.
After being arrested for child sexual assault on the set of the former Fox/Warner Bros. television series, Cleaning lady. Gilbert insisted on the innocence of her husband, the actor and director.
“For Tim, it’s over. It’s overturned. Even if he’s acquitted, he’ll always be that guy, the last person in the world who would hurt a child. And believe me, if I thought for a moment that Tim Busfield hurt a kid, he would have a lot more to worry about than prison,” Gilbert said as he sat next to Busfield’s attorney, Larry Stine.
Busfield denied allegations of child abuse, who were allegedly groped on multiple occasions during the filming of the film Cleaning lady In Albuquerque. The charges against Busfield relate to alleged touching on two separate occasions, once in October 2022 and again in September 2023. Each charge carries a minimum sentence of three years, and cannot be suspended or deferred. Busfield was earlier released from prison after his arrest.
“Our life as we knew it is over,” Gilbert told Stephanopoulos after insisting their lives were currently “hell.” “We are grieving what we had — all our plans, all our dreams, all our ideas, all our projects.” Busfield’s defense so far has centered around arguments that the children’s parents were looking for revenge against him for recasting them in Season 4 of the Fox series after they had outgrown their roles.
Gilbert’s interview will be broadcast Good morning America On April 6.
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