"Happy happy birthday to my sweet, hilarious, talented, compassionate, brilliant mother!" Melissa wrote.
Melissa Gilbert, the actress from Christmas in My Hometown, recently celebrated her adoptive mother Barbara Gilbert's special day on social media. The 58-year-old actress also threw a lavish birthday party for her. She posted a gorgeous old photo of her mother as a young woman on Instagram along with a loving tribute. Barbara and Paul Gilbert had taken Melissa in as an infant when she was only a day old, per Pop Sugar. In her autobiography Prairie Tale, the actress discussed honestly how she always knew she was adopted.
Gilbert was informed that her biological father was a Rhodes Scholar and her mother was a prima ballerina. They made the decision to place her for adoption since her mother wasn't prepared to give up her job. Thanking her adoptive mom and wishing her the best for helping her believe in herself the actor wrote, “This gorgeous person is celebrating another trip around the sun today. Happy happy birthday to my sweet, hilarious, talented, compassionate, brilliant mother! Your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren love you so much, and we hope you have the best day ever!"
When Melissa reached adulthood, she claimed in her book, she began to learn more about her family history and learned that her mother was a dancer but not a prima ballerina and that her father was a stock car racer and sign painter. Her parents each had three children and were each married to a different partner. They consequently relocated with their six kids after learning they were expecting her. They decided to place her for adoption since life was stressful and they couldn't support another kid with their normal employment as shared by the actor in her autobiography.
“My mother, whom I love dearly, has continually revised my life story within the context of a complicated family history that includes more than the usual share of divorce, step-children, dysfunction, and obfuscation, and I’ve spent most of my adult life attempting to deconstruct that history and separate fact from fiction, especially as the facts pertain to … me!” revealed the actor in an exclusive word with TODAY. “For example, my mother was at the helm of everything, including my career, my food intake, and how I dressed — my whole life. I never questioned her or rebelled,” she added as she went into the details of it.
Disclosing how her mum always encouraged her she said, “My mother, beautiful, delicate, and deluded, saw me as the pillar of perfection — and told me that I was the world’s best actor, the best wife, the best … at everything. I knew I wasn’t, but I lived my life as though I had to be the best lest I disappoint her,” she told the outlet.
References:
https://www.today.com/popculture/melissa-gilbert-s-complicated-prairie-life-wbna31173128
https://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/photo-gallery/37979874/image/37986988/Melissa-Gilbert
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Frazer Harrison
