Melissa Gilbert swapped her life in Los Angeles for a quiet country retreat because she worried the city wasn’t a “safe place to grow old.”
The 60-year-old “Little House on Prairie” star — who found fame on the NBC Western series as a child — left her California hometown for Michigan in 2013. and has since moved to New York, and she credits the move with allowing her to age gracefully.
Melissa told the New York Post’s Pagesix column, “I just didn’t feel like it [Los Angeles] it was a safe place for me. It’s so anti-aging, which is one of my least favorite expressions in the world. Anti aging means dead…
[There’s pressure to] don’t get old and stay a size 2 or 4 or whatever [I] it was at that time. [After the move] I went from, “Oh my God, I better not get old!” to “Oh my God, I’m so glad I’m older!”. I love the age I am now. “
However, Melissa still has a lot of affection for Los Angeles and was devastated to see the city burn in the recent fires.
She added: “I didn’t realize the depth of love I have for my hometown until the wildfires. The amount of people I know who have lost everything, not movie stars and TV stars.
“It’s devastating and I love Los Angeles so much. It just wasn’t the right place to live anymore, but it will always be my hometown.”
Melissa previously admitted that she stopped coloring her hair and had her breasts removed after leaving LA.
She told Foxnews Digital: “I looked in the mirror a few years ago. I was living in Los Angeles and didn’t recognize who I was. I had stuffed my face and lips. My forehead didn’t move.
“I still dyed my hair red. I drove a Mustang convertible. I was a size two in an unhealthy way. I looked like a frozen version of my younger self, and that’s not who I am.
“I was stuck. I could feel myself fighting it. And I was like, ‘It’s time to get old.’ “I had to leave Los Angeles to do it—not specifically in Hollywood—Los Angeles.
“I stop dying my hair. I had [my] breast implants removed. I decided to be the best, healthiest version of myself without this pressure to look a certain way, and it paid off in a huge way.
“Finally, I found my feet as a woman, completely, 100 percent strong in my own knowledge, in my own achievements. Everything became easier. And a bonus? I have a lot more free time, without looking in the mirror, sitting in a dermatologist chair or sitting on a hair chair.
