Melissa Gilbert Says She Had to 'Escape' Hollywood in 2013 (Exclusive)

Melissa Gilbert couldn't be happier when she left Los Angeles.

With Our little farm celebrates his 50th^th anniversary on Wednesday, September 11, the actress spoke to PEOPLE about her personal journey in Hollywood and beyond. A product of Los Angeles in the 60s and 70s – “I had a incredible time she grew up in,” she says – Gilbert began acting at the age of 2 and was cast in Our little farm as the iconic Laura Ingalls Wilder when she was 9 years old. The role would establish her place in the cultural zeitgeist of the decades to follow.

While her successful acting career continued over the years with appearances in shows and television films, including Sweet Justice, Term of office And Christmas in the hometown, Gilbert decided to leave LA in 2013 “to grow older” and break away from Hollywood's harsh and unrealistic expectations of actresses and their appearance.

“All the pressure I was exposed to all of them”, admits Gilbert, adding: “Living in Los Angeles is like living in a mall while working there. Literally, all is in the business. When you walk into a restaurant, everyone turns to see who came in. Everyone is always looking, curious, competing and that is really difficult, especially for an actress. It puts a lot of pressure to stay slim and young and it makes it really hard to be comfortable in your own skin because [of] the aging process.”

“No matter how much we delay it, it's inevitable,” Gilbert continues. “So are you going to age comfortably and happily? Are you going to fight it, live unhealthily, and feel like there's something wrong with aging and that you're defective because you've gotten older?”

After LA, Gilbert first moved to Michigan, where she lived with her husband, Timothy Busfield, for five years. (The couple married on April 24, 2013.) Accustomed to some Hollywood niceties like Botox and facial fillers like Restylane, the actress stopped getting the popular injections in 2015 and had her breast implants removed. She also stopped dyeing her hair her signature red, letting her shimmering gray shine through instead.

“I had to get out of there [L.A.]because I felt like I wasn't myself,” she says. “In the five years that I was at Michigan, all of that stopped. … I dropped everything and just focused on being as healthy as I could physically and emotionally. And I think that shows, 'Yes, I'm aging, but it's not a curse – it's a blessing.'”

Gilbert and Busfield, 67, moved to New York City in 2018 and a year later bought a home in upstate New York that the couple affectionately dubbed “The Cabbage.” Along the way, Gilbert launched her lifestyle brand Modern Prairie, which she co-owns with co-founder Nicole Haase, a former Williams Sonoma executive who now serves as Modern Prairie's CEO. (The two run the business “side by side,” Gilbert explains.)

From copper clay decanters and cake pans to lightweight, hand-painted woven dresses, the site now offers a wide range of clothing, homewares, crafts and other accessories, all designed for “savvy women.”

“Modern Prairie is a place where the modern, experienced woman can connect with other women to share their stories as we go through all these big changes in our lives,” explains Gilbert. “We are all We go through incredible things, whether it's physiological or hormonal changes, we lose our spouses and partners or children leave the nest.”

Looking at her decades-long professional and personal journey, Gilbert has developed an unshakable “strength.”

“I think it's remarkable how strong we are that we've survived this long,” she adds. “But the lessons we've learned make me feel so much stronger and more comfortable in my own skin at this age than ever before.”

“I am confident in my opinion now. I feel like I have truly earned the right to my opinion and that I have something to say,” she continues. “That is why I want to encourage the women in the Modern Prairie community… to speak up, Be to move forward, to try new things. Just because you have reached a certain age does not mean that life is over. Life is not over until it's over. So make the most of it while you can.”

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All nine Seasons of Our little farm can be streamed on Prime Video and Peacock.