‘Little House on the Prairie’ Star Melissa Gilbert Shares Diagnosis That Was “A Really Dark” Part Of Her Childhood

Melissa Gilbert is opening up about “a really dark and difficult part” of her childhood. 

Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, recently told People about her struggle with misophonia, a sensory processing disorder that causes forceful reactions to specific sounds.

For Gilbert, everyday noises like the sounds of chewing, would provoke anger. The condition was especially problematic on set for the newborn actress. 

“If any of the kids chewed gum or ate or tapped their fingernails on the table, I would want to run away so badly,” Gilbert recalled of filming school room scenes for Little House on the Prairie. “I would turn beet red and my eyes would fill up with tears and I’d just sit there feeling absolutely miserable and horribly guilty for feeling so hateful towards all these people—people I loved.”

“It was a really dark and difficult part of my childhood,” she added.

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It wasn’t until many years later that Gilbert received a diagnosis. She said that learning that her intense reactions were caused by misophonia was an enormous relief. 

“I sobbed when I found out that it had a name and I wasn’t just a bad person,” Gilbert recalled to People, adding that she often glared at her family members for making noise.

“I really just thought that I was rude,” she said. “And I felt really bad. And guilty, which is an enormous component of misophonia, the guilt that you feel for these feelings of fight or flight. It’s a really isolating disorder.”

Just last year, after a lifetime of struggling, Gilbert, 60, found out that misophonia was treatable. Thanks to 16 weeks of “intensive” Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at Duke Center for Misophonia and Emotional Regulation at Duke University’s School of Medicine, Gilbert finally has tools to cope with her condition. 

“Everyone around me doesn’t have to walk on eggshells,” she told People. “It’s changed my whole life.”