The situation began when Megyn Kelly, during a November 12 episode of The Megyn Kelly Show, made controversial remarks about Epstein’s victims, suggesting he was interested in “barely legal” girls and implying a difference between a 15-year-old victim and much younger children.
The comments immediately sparked widespread criticism. Thousands of women reacted by posting childhood photos of themselves at age fifteen with the hashtag #IWasFifteen, emphasizing that 15 is, unmistakably, still childhood.
Melissa Gilbert Faces the Reality of Being 15 in Hollywood
When Gilbert searched for photos of herself at 15, she found images from Little House on the Prairie that she had not looked at in years. In those scenes, she was performing romantic moments — including on-screen kisses — with Dean Butler, who was 23 at the time.
Gilbert was stunned. “I am actually nauseated.” She described the surreal contrast between her real life — a true 15-year-old girl vacationing with her family, worrying about normal teenage things — and her on-screen life, where she was expected to portray romantic affection toward a much older actor.
She wrote: “The girl on vacation in Hawaii with her family is the same girl who was expected to ‘fall in love with’ and kiss a man on film who was several years older than she was. Through the lens of today, this is shocking. I WAS A CHILD. I WAS FIFTEEN.”
Gilbert was quick to emphasize that she was protected on set by people like Michael Landon, her mother, and others who ensured she was safe. She was not claiming abuse — she was acknowledging reality. She was a child performing adult-coded emotions.
Today, such a dynamic would require specialized oversight, closed-set intimacy coordinators, legal consultation, and explicit safety protocols. But in the 1970s and 1980s, the entertainment industry rarely questioned the emotional impact placed on teenage actors. Gilbert’s post was not a denunciation of her past — it was a recognition that the world understands youth differently now.
