This image is from 2011. For a more recent image go to Radar Online
I used to watch “Little House on the Prairie” when I was a kid in the 80s, but it wasn’t like it was my favorite show or anything. As I keep explaining to my kid, we didn’t get a VCR until I was in eighth grade (around the time everyone else got one) and we had to watch whatever was on and then go do something else during the commercials. The horror, right? Get off my lawn. (I also hate the new gmail format, and the new Facebook format, which means I’m getting old according to my mom.)
I remember Little House somewhat, and how it jumped the shark when Mary went blind and various little kids came to visit and wreaked havoc. (I just spent way too much time looking up information about old LHOP episodes.) Laura Ingalls was the lead character and narrator, and Melissa Gilbert, 47, is best known for that role. She was so young and of course fresh faced in that show, and it looks like she’s been to the surgeon a few too many times to try and recapture her youth. Melissa is currently on Dancing with the Stars, and Radar has quotes from a surgeon who says she’s had some noticeable recent work:
Not only has the former Little House On The Prairie star been spending long hours rehearsing with dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, she’s also fitted in time to see her plastic surgeon, thinks celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Anthony Youn, who has not treated the actress.
“Her face is surprisingly wrinkle-free for a woman her age. I suspect that she’s had some Botox to her forehead and crows feet, effectively smoothing them out,” he exclusively told Radar.
“She may also have had some filler injections like Restylane to the deep creases of her lower face as well. Overall her face looks longer than before, a likely combination of aging and some plastic surgery.”
Having divorced from husband Bruce Boxleitner last August after 16 years of marriage, it is understandable that Melissa would want a nip, tuck and needle-prick to feel young again now that she’s back on the market, but Dr. Youn warns that the injectables are only a temporary fix.
“Unless her face gets a Botox recharge, I bet we will see more wrinkles return over the next several months as it wears off,” he told Radar.
[From Radar]
I think it’s true that Melissa Gilbert had a lot of work done, and that she went overboard somewhat. She’s looked like this for a while though, and people are only noticing now because she’s on DWTS. I see new lips, a new nose, and Botox. As they say in the south, bless her, you know? She wanted to look better and it didn’t really work out that way. I understand the urge to get something done and I’m feeling it now, but I see examples every day of what I should hold off. That’s about all I’ll say about that.
Here’s Melissa’s first dance. She’ll probably stay on a little longer, but unless she improves significantly she’s not going to make it to the end. There was some stiff competition.
Header photo is from 2011. Photos below are from DWTS and from 2010, 2009 and 2003.
2010:
2009:
2003:
2003:
I’m 46 and when I look at photos like these I know I am far better off just saying no to any type of plastic surgery. I’m lucky – very few wrinkles which I attribute to 20 years of sunscreen and I NEVER leave the house without sunglasses. Its paid off. She just looks so rough…it sad.
No kidding. In those shots with the red flower in her hair she looks like Melissa Rivers, plastic surgery princess. Yikes.
OMG – I thought the EXACT same thing!!!
Me three!
Half Pint is starting to look scary.
YES! Another girl who knows her way around a scalpel.
Me, too, girl! Sunscreen 365 days a year since i was 20, sunglasses and hats sometimes, if they’re cute, plus no cigarettes – I’m 45 and pass for 35 easy. I do, however, drink a lot…so maybe that has pickled me, dunno…cheers!
I’m 45 too…I have a really hard time assessing how old I really look, so I can’t claim to look 10 yrs younger, etc., like some of you can. I don’t *think* I have those deep crevasses in my face like Melissa does. She looked MUCH better in the older pics w/Bruce Boxleitner. She should have left well enough alone. Yikes.
I agree that she now looks like one of the Rivers’ clan. NOT a compliment. Also, she looks A LOT like her mother (who is in the audience of The Talk all the time) – frightening.
She really was cute in those last two pics. I just watched the DWTS video – girlfriend shouldn’t have gotten her lips done! Now it looks like duck lips. That crap wears off though, doesn’t it? It’s not permanent?
She was better before,I can not believed she did that to her self,that is the reason we do not see her more.she make a terrible mistake,do not look like her.hop they correct the terrible work.
I guess I am old too because I watched Little House religiously as a kid and I loved Melissa Gilbert. It’s really sad to look at her face now she wasn’t necessarily all that beautiful but she had such a natural spunk as Half Pint.
Now all I think about when I hear about her is Mario Cantone’s reading of her memoir. HILARIOUS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqYANlsu0q4
I just watched this.
Spectacular.
BLESS YOU for posting that, I have not laughed so hard in a long time. I actually snorted up liquid on my keyboard while I was trying to drink my coffee! Thank you!!
‘I had to listen to that shell’
🙂
That was hilarious! Thank you for posting it.
That was comedy gold! I could listen to him read the entire thing. Mario has a bright future producing audio books!
You Don’t F*** With America’s Sweetheart!! Hysterical. Thanks for posting that.
MG was never an attractive woman (typically or otherwise.) H-wood pressure probably had much to do with her “transformation.” That said, even “ugly” people who have success in the this industry can be narcissistic and I think MG is one of those.
She looked 57 on the show, not 47. Her lips are enormous. She looks awful.
ITA…not good at all. Half-pint went full-on.
Years ago a movie was filmed at Kellogg’s in Toronto, where I worked. They needed the building for the movie … she wouldn’t talk to anyone and had an ego the size of Cincinnati. I’m 6 years older than her and she looks 10 years older than me.
Um … all I see are wrinkles.
I agree. All I see are wrinkles, too. The lips look a bit too puffy and uneven, but that’s about it.
I know, scary surgery/procedures and yet the wrinkles remain. Bizarre.
The cheek implants/fillers are terrible.
She needs to get her money back from whichever surgeon “revised” her nose. If I went to all the trouble and pain of having a nose job and it still looked like a big old turnip sitting on my face, I’d be pissed. I don’t think she’s gone the full Monty of a face- or browlift, though. I’d say Botox and obviously some sort of lip filler. It looks like she’s gotten overly enthusiastic about chemical peels or other sorts of resurfacing too.
They all look the same now. They all look like ducks!
Good analogy – it brings to mind a twilight zone episode from way way back called “The eye of the beholder”
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlRXV-WTZ2E
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXH0Q9-PLzc
She looks a lot like Melissa Rivers
I KNOW! That’s exactly what I think. She was sooooo lovely. I don’t understand why she messed with her face..or body, for that matter!
Really? I was thinking more of Carrot Top.
How sad is it that in a gallery of kat-faces that has kim K as exhibit A, I don’t think this face is too bad.
Yes, some areas are over done, but she still looks human. Kim K really looks plastic, not human.
I agree, she managed to retain some uniqueness and isn’t unrecognizable like Jennifer Grey after her nose job.
Dear God, I’m pushing 60 and I have fewer wrinkles than she does…it’s partly genetics but also religious use of sunscreen, sunglasses, regular exfoliation and retinol face cream. I don’t need no stinkin’ fillers or botox!
I live in Seattle-chronically depressed, but only slight wrinkles. SPF 15 winter, SPF 30 summer.
Poster child for excessive sun exposure-Princess Stephanie of Monaco-OMG, she looks awful!
Glad to hear it, Jaded! That’s my exact routine too, and I’m 49. I’m regularly mistaken for being in my mid-twenties, and have not one wrinkle yet. However, even if I had a face full of wrinkles, one look at poor Melissa is proof enough that aging naturally is the only way.
Ladies that are in their 40’s and 50’s that think they look like they’re in their 20’s are delusional. No amount of sunscreen can accomplish this. Get over yourselves. By they way, I’m 33 and look about 12.
Hey “Remote Control” … seems you might be 33 but ACT 12.
I like her 2003 face.
“Her face is surprisingly wrinkle-free for a woman her age.”
Bite me, Dr. Anthony Youn.
Why are women in Hollywood turning into duck faced clones?!? Those lip fillers are always terrible and look like they hurt! She looked much better in ’03.
Duck billed platypuss! They all look like that. The same fake long hair. They are not pretty anymore!
First-time poster, long-time lurker. Had to jump in on this post, I used to LOVE Laura Ingalls (Wilder)! I just can’t believe she’s 47 years old, now I feel OLD!
chakliuk nailed it when she mentioned Melissa Rivers. I can hardly recognize her from when she was younger, she’s gotten so much done.
I think that last picture in blue is the best. She has always seemed very stuck up to me. 😉
I met a lady yesterday at the hair salon who just had a facelift. She had the typical Joker lips and cat eyes. She was very unhappy and was told it should only be temporary. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she better get used to it. The older I get, the more anti-surgery I get.
Oh, her face will relax, all right–in about a decade, if she doesn’t go for more surgery, she’ll probably look pretty good again.
The sad and awful thing is that so many women (and some men), once they start having plastic surgery, Botox, and/or fillers, they just. can’t. stop. If they’re lucky, they’ll manage to go a couple of decades before their faces get that “melted and re-molded” look. Unfortunately for MG, she’s already halfway there.
I’m 45, and determined not to go down that road. My grandmothers were both beautiful women, even in old age, as is my mother; I’ll gladly follow in their footsteps.
Good LORD. The irony of Hollywood is never lost on me. Going to extremes to be beautiful but end up so ugly.
Ruff!
UNDO! UNDO!
OMG-she looks like a deer in headlights!
We’re the same age-but I could never afford plastic surgery anyway-a not-so-hidden blessing.
I wouldn’t mind an eye job someday, though. DIdn’t Hillary Clinton have one done? There are good plastic surgeons out there-you just have to find them and do just a bit of work here and there over time. Drastic is drastic and this IS drastic.
I always think I’ll want my emerging turkey neck lifted. Some things, when done well, can make you look and feel better and still look like yourself.
You don’t have to be a surgeon to see she’s had a lot done.
I think she looks older than 47. That seems to happen with bad/too much plastic surgery.
The last picture is what she used to look like. Now she looks like Joan River’s second daughter. She practically mutilated her face.
I wonder what happened with Bruce B? They sure got divorced quickly.
Yuck.
She looks awful. She doesn’t younger, just older and weird. Very sad, because she used to be pretty.
Sad. In that 2003 photo she was still pretty good-looking. Loved LHOP when I was kid. Bawled my eyes out when Albert died.
@CB. Hate the new gmail and Facebook formats as well. And yes, if I had a lawn I’d be telling people to get off it. 😛
I am so happy I am not the only one in re the Gmail.. lol – this is too funny!!!
“The horror, right? Get off my lawn. (I also hate the new gmail format, and the new Facebook format, which means I’m getting old according to my mom.)” – I hate the new gmail format as well, and I have not switched over to the new format yet.. I sampled it but went back to the old one… I agree with you 100%!!!!!
I still watch LHOP now and then when I feel the need to watch a tear jerker.
@I Choose Me says, you’re right about when Albert died. I cried my eyes out to…massive tear jerker.
What would Charles Ingalls and Mr. Edwards say? Not to mention Caroline…
Oh hell. Was that Melissa GILBERT on DWTS? I sincerely thought it was Melissa RIVERS. And when I thought it was Melissa Rivers, I thought she had so much stuff done to her face (like her mom does) that I thought she looked like a female version of Carrot Top. All she needed was to arch her eyebrows more.
That was so weird that I couldn’t tell the difference between Gilbert and Rivers.
TWISTED WRECKAGE!
Ohh Hell…I cringed when I saw her face on DWTS. Her face is literally TWISTED. Her lips are frozen to one side and her skin is overly pulled and discolored. All that surgery and botox and she still has saggy crags about the face. Her plastic surgeon really did a horrible job. Looking a little Joan Rivers-y to me.
“As they say in the south, bless her, you know? ”
Sorry, it’s actually:
“BlEEEsss her heaaaart.”
And you have to wait a beat and give look before you say it.
The length of the pause and the intonation totally determines if you’re being passive aggressive or sincere. 🙂
(I’m a transplant in the South and that always cracks me up.)
But as to the question, yes, she totally went too far. When your face starts looking lumpy from all the injectables, you know you’ve overdone it.
She looks like a man. Though in my opinion women who use plastic surgery much on the face, almost everyone looks like a man in drag.
All the people on here who claim “to be 47 but get mistaken for mid 20s”, someones lying to you.
I think it’s completely reasonable to look at least 10 years younger. I’m not 47, but I’m in my early 40’s and have been carded twice and taken for my 14 yo daughter’s sister twice this month. My mother was the same way. I look even younger with no makeup and a ponytail. It’s genetics.
And I too become more anti=surgery and “stuff” as I age. As least I look like me.
Some one told me that they thought i was the same age as them, 27. At the time i was in my early 40’s. I got the genetics from the male parent, he also had brilliant health and longevity in his family, they were Irish. I still get great reports from medical check ups, but i never sun bathe or touch alcohol and i eat a decent diet and exercise. I have taken care of what i inherited and it has paid off. I hear a lot about tanning and drinking, doing drugs, it takes its toll on the looks.
Looking more closely at the recent pics, I think she’s had her face shot full of Botox, plus lots of fillers in her lips, but I’m not convinced she’s had a facelift.
Her face–especially around her mouth–looks paralyzed, but overall it’s not as tight as I’d expect to see, had she had a facelift. And it’s weird that she still has a lot of deep wrinkles around her eyes, plus some in her forehead. It’s as if she went for loads of Botox in her forehead and around her mouth, then had lip fillers, but didn’t get fillers anywhere else.
Which is actually good–if she comes to her senses and stops getting fresh injections, her face will gradually go back to normal, or close enough.
I’m 30 and I look 35. I drink wine a lot, used to smoke, and was lax on my sunscreen and moisturizer in my early 20’s.
Just to go against the grain of everybody who looks so youthful around here. Lol
Even if it wasn’t your favorite show, you ought to read Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by “Nellie”. Best book ever.
Wait. So a 47 yr. old woman is SUPPOSED to have more wrinkles on her face than MG currently has? I call BS. Maybe a 47 yr. old woman in the 1940’s or 1950’s, but I know many women in their 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s with not one wrinkle and they had no work done. I don’t believe there is a way a woman or man is supposed to look at any age now. People are taking better care of themselves and some have great genes.
Gee, Pa! She looks like an aging tranny!
It’s like her face came from two differennt humans.
When I was a kid I use to run home after school to watch LHOTP and I remembered every episode made me cry.I’m now reading Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim who played Nellie Olsen on the series and she was just as much a bitch in real life as she was on the show.
My god, you guys— she looks awful. I think she had a freshfaced healthy look back on LHOP. She’s my age and I think I look a zillion times better. And there is no reason for 47 to look like hell.
Here’s another thing– she is a fairskinned redhead naturally right? you can’t screw around with skin like that– it’s sensitive, delicate and shows everything. All the surgery and treatments have been way too harsh on her skin. Sad.
Meow! Gawd ya’ll are bitchy!
Interesting article.. i am a fun of natural skin care products, actually i am using perfect radiance for 6 months now and feel 15 year younger! Amazing
Too bad Melissa got the “too large” breast implants. Out of proportion with the rest of her frame. Also those lips! Yuck! I think she must have too much time on her hands and uses it to look
in the mirror and think of her next procedure to get done.
I really thought she was excellant in “little house” and just adorable.
She was sorta cute when she was younger and pre-Joker/Duck-faced, but I never understood how she ever snagged Rob Lowe and Bruce Boxleitner who are both about 10 rungs up the ladder from her in the looks department. Gotta hand it to her for playing way outside her league and winning those yummy men over!
She is and was very smart lady remember she was for a long time director of the Academy of actors not every one cut do that job and she was great.but i feel sad for that surgery,look Genie Francis they are the same age and Genie look so nice she had a new picture on the Hallmark Channel and do par time on the J and R.we do not learn,for me all the creams ,but let me be me.
http://www.undertherock.com/profile/2359951361At
UnderTheRock you create profiles about other people.
Your opinion counts.
Melissa you are a beautiful woman inside and out. I read your book. I learned so much about your life and was inspired by your honesty and hard work. I’m so amazed how you have accomplished so much and how you don’t allow fear to stop you from running for president of SAG, to writing a book, to dancing with stars, to acting on Broadway, not to mention a mom! I don’t know if you will read this but know you are indeed incredible! Thank you for all your contributions. Take Care, Karen. P.S you danced so beautifully! Congrats!
Melissa you are a beautiful woman inside and out. I read your book. I learned so much about your life and was inspired by your honesty and hard work. I’m so amazed how you have accomplished so much and how you don’t allow fear to stop you from running for president of SAG, to writing a book, to dancing with stars, to acting on Broadway, not to mention a mom! I don’t know if you will read this but know you are indeed incredible! Thank you for all your contributions.
it is beyond duck lips — it’s more like vagina lips. and why make your lips shine?? that, added to the puffiness, makes women’s faces look like their crotches !!! MG was a very attractive woman – like lauren holly, plastic surgery certainly does make people look just awful – like bruce jenner — nothing like they really look — i am 61, have NEVER worn any make up, and have very few facial wrinkles — it is genetics plus a healthy life and respect for the damaging sun – and no smoking tobacco –
I saw MG in a Hallmark movie this weekend. My first impression was “she looks so old”. I looked her up to see how old she actually is and was surprised to find that she is 10 yrs. younger than I am. Granted I have a few wrinkles and probably look my age, but she looks my age too! I’m sure that’s not what she was going for.