July 31, 2025 • 13 mins
Jennie and Melissa Gilbert continue their conversation, reflecting on fame, reinvention and choosing yourself at every stage of life. From growing up on Little House on the Prairie to launching the empowering lifestyle brand Modern Prairie, Melissa shares how she's transformed nostalgia into purpose and created true community. The two explore what it means to age with intention, build community and stay curious.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Garland. We're
back with Melissa Gilbert. So much wisdom and kindness to share.
I can't wait for you to hear the rest of
our conversation. Okay, well, of course we have to talk
about Little House on the Prairie. I know how much
people love nine O two and zero, and that's just
(00:23):
from the nineties. You started a lot earlier. You've recently
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary, and also a show that's never
been off the air. It's always on somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, it's wild. It's wild to be a part of
something that has that kind of longevity, but the legacy
of it and it's so beloved. People love that show.
They love the stories that we told. They love the
(00:55):
relevance of the stories that we told. They they're now
people are looking back and going, oh, Little House. They
told some pretty poble stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And just in such a like a non offensive way,
like not like it.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Was not its real Yeah, exactly, it was not exploitive.
We were telling Michael Landon was consciously telling the stories
of the nineteen seventies through the lens of the eighteen seventies.
We were talking about civil rights and veterans coming home
from the Civil War on our show where the veterans
coming home from the Vietnam War. These were all topical
and important stories, and unfortunately, so many of them are
(01:33):
still things we need to discuss today. So that's why
I think Little House continues on. I mean, we you know,
we did dumb, fluffy episodes where we just had fun
Jennify on Halloween, but it was it was pretty hard hitting.
We took on rape, arson, crib death, all kinds of horrible,
(01:58):
horrible things on that show.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah. I have always been a fan. I watched it
when I was little, I've watched it with my daughters.
I got to work with Shannon Doherty who was played Jenny.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yes she did. She sure did.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Such such good, good memories of my childhood from watching
that show.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, Yeah, And.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It's been such an incredible jumping off point for so
many other things. On top of having this great, successful
career outside of that show, you really kind of chose
to take ownership of Laura, and you seem okay being
a little bit her forever.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well, I mean, I'm her and she's me. It's really
hard to do. It's really hard to differentiate between the
two because it was so ingrained in you know, I
was nine years old. It's an acting I was pretending.
I mean, it was a game, it was a job.
Certainly I had mendus responsibility, but it was it was
(03:04):
an adventure more than anything else. And it's you know,
when I was in my mid to late teens in
early twenties, I sort of wanted to distance myself from
it a bit because I wanted to establish myself as
a young woman when people were still thinking I'm twelve,
and that was kind of a hard, prickly time. But
now as I've aged, it's obviously something that I've really
(03:30):
come to embrace wholeheartedly. And now with my lifestyle brand
with my partner Nicole Hosey, and I with Modern Prairie,
we've taken that whole ethos and all of that feeling
and goodwill around Laura and Little House and the Prairie
and moved it into the future by modernizing it for
(03:51):
women our age and beyond and created a community where
they can gather and share and support one another through
all of these things we're going through at this part
of our lives. Yes, there's a business component to it.
There's products, there's clothing, there's crafting. But we have free
(04:13):
events and seminars on everything from finding joy after grief
to being a caregiver to making pigh crust. There's something
for everybody. And the women in our community and on
our app are now starting to gather together away from
us on their own and have meetups and lunches. And
(04:35):
these are women who have felt underappreciated and marginalized simply
because of their age.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You know, I was going to ask you about this
because in twenty twenty two, if I'm correct, that's when
you founded Mone Prairie. Yes, you're with Nicole, your partner.
Why did you decide that that was the right time
to focus some of your energy on that? It's no
small feet. I've done it too. I have kind of
(05:03):
pivoted to embrace my past and bring it into my future.
And you know what, the whole I choose me and
very very very similar stories you and I. Yeah, what
made you want to do that? Like? How did you
figure out you wanted to do that?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It sort of fell into place. I mean for many
many years I knew there was the potential for something
Prairie branded, something there, and I had had conversations with
the branding department at the agency where I'm a client
for years, and we sort of came up with a
deck and an idea of what it might be, but
(05:38):
it fell by the wayside. And then I came to
know Nicole, who at the time was working in swim
swimwear and she was working for a company that was
designing swimwear for the seasoned woman. Let's call me And
(05:58):
we had a mutual friend who introduced us, and so
Nicole and I did some Instagram lives. She fitted me.
She sent me swimwear which is like the torch, like
trying on jeans, it's agony, and this is so easy
and this it was great, great swimwear. I felt really
good on n even posted pictures and she and I
just started chatting and I told her that, you know,
(06:20):
I'd had this idea for something but it never happened,
and she said, let me get back to you. And
about a week later she came back to me and
she created this deck and this idea for this company,
and she said, I think I want to do this
with you. How about you? And I said, are you kidding?
This is amazing because it was so much more than
I or anyone around me had ever come up with before,
(06:42):
because it wasn't just retail, it wasn't just killing stuff.
It was creating this community in this world of women
supporting women now at this phase of our lives. And
so we did it ourselves. We bootstrapped this ourselves, we
funded it ourselves, We've created it. We're really scrappy. We
(07:05):
still are, you know, We're we're doing really well. The
business is growing in leaps and bounds and amazing. Yeah. Yeah,
and now we're at the point where we're actually going
to have to start hiring people to do some of
the things we do because we're doing too many jobs.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yes, I mean, who knew at this stage in your
life as a seasoned woman, which, by the way, what
is your definition of a seasoned woman? I'm cureus. I'm
kind of no, but like I want to hear you
tell me.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I think it's experience, wisdom, knowledge, self awareness. I think
that's it. I think I think that's it.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Seasoned. I like it.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah. The building of the community is really like at
the core of it, which I admire.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Thank you and I.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Wish you all the best, you know, I was going
to say before, like, at this stage in our lives,
who would have thunk that we would be back to
the drawing board, like grinding again to create these you
with yours and me with mine. Like I've never worked
harder in my life.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, no, I know, I know, it's it's extraordinary, but
it's this. It's a different kind of work this go around.
But right it's like a joyous creative creative. There's so
much yes ending that goes on in our business and
and and for us with the crafting space and being
(08:47):
able to bring that part of myself into the business,
and and then you know, we just did. We've we've
done an initiative that I love so much. We have
we're in the quilting space now. We have created fabrics
for quilts, a fabric kit with Riley Blake, who's a
big fabric distributor for quilting, and it did really well.
(09:07):
We're launching our second, our second kit. But in the meantime,
we did quilting lessons on the app and I learned
to quilt. And now we've done this thing where the
women who quilted have all done blocks with our.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Fast saw that on your Instagram.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeap, including myself, and then we've embroidered our names on
it and little messages on it, and our master quilter
and quilting teacher is assembling them into four quilts that
we're going to give to Jennifer Garner and save the
children for their big gala and auction. And we're debuting
those at a thing called Garden of Quilts in Utah,
which is our first It's going to be the venue
(09:49):
for our first in person modern prairie meeting for all
of our ladies. So we were able to gather as
a community, even all over the world and country to
create these quilts that will benefit children in a way
that we would not have been able to otherwise. And
(10:10):
there's something so traditionally beautiful about that. It's like a
quilting circle, a pair of people in the village. Right
we're taking care of children in our country.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
It's so full circle. I can't take it.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I know, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It's like you are back to where you began and
really able to put your heart and soul into it
in a way now because you're calling the shots, you're
leading the you know, you and your partner are the
bosses Yeah, it's gosh, I know I can relate. It's
such a great feeling. It's it's so different.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It really is. It's business, but it's beyond that, and
that is so fulfilling.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
It's the community. Yep, yep, I love that. So I
do know that You're longevity in this business is really remarkable.
What would you want women like me or women out
there who are listening to know about staying the course,
staying true to yourself and all the women that not
(11:16):
just in our industry, but all the women everywhere, because
it's not just applicable to show business.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I think it's really important. If I could choose one thing,
it would be to stay curious. One of my favorite
things is when I walk into a room or zoom
or a situation and I'm not the smartest person in
the room, There's always someone I can learn from, and
I think that's that keeps that spark alive in us.
(11:46):
You can see those people who think that they know everything.
A lot of the leaders in world leaders and in
our country are that way, and they just look sour
and heavy and burdened because they've lost that curiosity, and
that curiosity is well, that's that's the laura. Yep, that's
what it is, and and that's what will keep me
(12:10):
vibrant and vital and excited about getting up in the
morning and doing something and learning something that curiosity, stay curious,
stay curious.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That is great advice. Wow, I just love our conversation
that you are. I'm just I'm in awe of you.
I want to I want to be you. Kind of
is that weird?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I love the laura inside of you so much. It's
so present. It's just it's you've come so far. Wow,
you've you're a great example.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Oh, bless your heart. So are you. I think we're
sort of in like the same kind of pace and
this will serve us really well. You know, we'll we'll
we'll reconnoiter in our in our eighties. Well I'll be
in my eighties before you. I will see where we
are then do.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I'm so curious what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I don't know, but I anticipate great things.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Great things. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh, thank you so much for inviting me. This was
really special. And I do hope our past cross in
person at some point because that would be really nice.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I do too. I will give you the biggest hug.
I hope it's not too weird.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
No, not at all. It won't be all.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Have great back, okay, all right, thank you Melissa,
You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Garland. We're
back with Melissa Gilbert. So much wisdom and kindness to share.
I can't wait for you to hear the rest of
our conversation. Okay, well, of course we have to talk
about Little House on the Prairie. I know how much
people love nine O two and zero, and that's just
(00:23):
from the nineties. You started a lot earlier. You've recently
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary, and also a show that's never
been off the air. It's always on somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, it's wild. It's wild to be a part of
something that has that kind of longevity, but the legacy
of it and it's so beloved. People love that show.
They love the stories that we told. They love the
(00:55):
relevance of the stories that we told. They they're now
people are looking back and going, oh, Little House. They
told some pretty poble stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And just in such a like a non offensive way,
like not like it.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Was not its real Yeah, exactly, it was not exploitive.
We were telling Michael Landon was consciously telling the stories
of the nineteen seventies through the lens of the eighteen seventies.
We were talking about civil rights and veterans coming home
from the Civil War on our show where the veterans
coming home from the Vietnam War. These were all topical
and important stories, and unfortunately, so many of them are
(01:33):
still things we need to discuss today. So that's why
I think Little House continues on. I mean, we you know,
we did dumb, fluffy episodes where we just had fun
Jennify on Halloween, but it was it was pretty hard hitting.
We took on rape, arson, crib death, all kinds of horrible,
(01:58):
horrible things on that show.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah. I have always been a fan. I watched it
when I was little, I've watched it with my daughters.
I got to work with Shannon Doherty who was played Jenny.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yes she did. She sure did.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Such such good, good memories of my childhood from watching
that show.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, Yeah, And.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It's been such an incredible jumping off point for so
many other things. On top of having this great, successful
career outside of that show, you really kind of chose
to take ownership of Laura, and you seem okay being
a little bit her forever.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well, I mean, I'm her and she's me. It's really
hard to do. It's really hard to differentiate between the
two because it was so ingrained in you know, I
was nine years old. It's an acting I was pretending.
I mean, it was a game, it was a job.
Certainly I had mendus responsibility, but it was it was
(03:04):
an adventure more than anything else. And it's you know,
when I was in my mid to late teens in
early twenties, I sort of wanted to distance myself from
it a bit because I wanted to establish myself as
a young woman when people were still thinking I'm twelve,
and that was kind of a hard, prickly time. But
now as I've aged, it's obviously something that I've really
(03:30):
come to embrace wholeheartedly. And now with my lifestyle brand
with my partner Nicole Hosey, and I with Modern Prairie,
we've taken that whole ethos and all of that feeling
and goodwill around Laura and Little House and the Prairie
and moved it into the future by modernizing it for
(03:51):
women our age and beyond and created a community where
they can gather and share and support one another through
all of these things we're going through at this part
of our lives. Yes, there's a business component to it.
There's products, there's clothing, there's crafting. But we have free
(04:13):
events and seminars on everything from finding joy after grief
to being a caregiver to making pigh crust. There's something
for everybody. And the women in our community and on
our app are now starting to gather together away from
us on their own and have meetups and lunches. And
(04:35):
these are women who have felt underappreciated and marginalized simply
because of their age.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You know, I was going to ask you about this
because in twenty twenty two, if I'm correct, that's when
you founded Mone Prairie. Yes, you're with Nicole, your partner.
Why did you decide that that was the right time
to focus some of your energy on that? It's no
small feet. I've done it too. I have kind of
(05:03):
pivoted to embrace my past and bring it into my future.
And you know what, the whole I choose me and
very very very similar stories you and I. Yeah, what
made you want to do that? Like? How did you
figure out you wanted to do that?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It sort of fell into place. I mean for many
many years I knew there was the potential for something
Prairie branded, something there, and I had had conversations with
the branding department at the agency where I'm a client
for years, and we sort of came up with a
deck and an idea of what it might be, but
(05:38):
it fell by the wayside. And then I came to
know Nicole, who at the time was working in swim
swimwear and she was working for a company that was
designing swimwear for the seasoned woman. Let's call me And
(05:58):
we had a mutual friend who introduced us, and so
Nicole and I did some Instagram lives. She fitted me.
She sent me swimwear which is like the torch, like
trying on jeans, it's agony, and this is so easy
and this it was great, great swimwear. I felt really
good on n even posted pictures and she and I
just started chatting and I told her that, you know,
(06:20):
I'd had this idea for something but it never happened,
and she said, let me get back to you. And
about a week later she came back to me and
she created this deck and this idea for this company,
and she said, I think I want to do this
with you. How about you? And I said, are you kidding?
This is amazing because it was so much more than
I or anyone around me had ever come up with before,
(06:42):
because it wasn't just retail, it wasn't just killing stuff.
It was creating this community in this world of women
supporting women now at this phase of our lives. And
so we did it ourselves. We bootstrapped this ourselves, we
funded it ourselves, We've created it. We're really scrappy. We
(07:05):
still are, you know, We're we're doing really well. The
business is growing in leaps and bounds and amazing. Yeah. Yeah,
and now we're at the point where we're actually going
to have to start hiring people to do some of
the things we do because we're doing too many jobs.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yes, I mean, who knew at this stage in your
life as a seasoned woman, which, by the way, what
is your definition of a seasoned woman? I'm cureus. I'm
kind of no, but like I want to hear you
tell me.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I think it's experience, wisdom, knowledge, self awareness. I think
that's it. I think I think that's it.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Seasoned. I like it.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah. The building of the community is really like at
the core of it, which I admire.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Thank you and I.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Wish you all the best, you know, I was going
to say before, like, at this stage in our lives,
who would have thunk that we would be back to
the drawing board, like grinding again to create these you
with yours and me with mine. Like I've never worked
harder in my life.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, no, I know, I know, it's it's extraordinary, but
it's this. It's a different kind of work this go around.
But right it's like a joyous creative creative. There's so
much yes ending that goes on in our business and
and and for us with the crafting space and being
(08:47):
able to bring that part of myself into the business,
and and then you know, we just did. We've we've
done an initiative that I love so much. We have
we're in the quilting space now. We have created fabrics
for quilts, a fabric kit with Riley Blake, who's a
big fabric distributor for quilting, and it did really well.
(09:07):
We're launching our second, our second kit. But in the meantime,
we did quilting lessons on the app and I learned
to quilt. And now we've done this thing where the
women who quilted have all done blocks with our.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Fast saw that on your Instagram.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeap, including myself, and then we've embroidered our names on
it and little messages on it, and our master quilter
and quilting teacher is assembling them into four quilts that
we're going to give to Jennifer Garner and save the
children for their big gala and auction. And we're debuting
those at a thing called Garden of Quilts in Utah,
which is our first It's going to be the venue
(09:49):
for our first in person modern prairie meeting for all
of our ladies. So we were able to gather as
a community, even all over the world and country to
create these quilts that will benefit children in a way
that we would not have been able to otherwise. And
(10:10):
there's something so traditionally beautiful about that. It's like a
quilting circle, a pair of people in the village. Right
we're taking care of children in our country.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
It's so full circle. I can't take it.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I know, it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It's like you are back to where you began and
really able to put your heart and soul into it
in a way now because you're calling the shots, you're
leading the you know, you and your partner are the
bosses Yeah, it's gosh, I know I can relate. It's
such a great feeling. It's it's so different.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It really is. It's business, but it's beyond that, and
that is so fulfilling.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
It's the community. Yep, yep, I love that. So I
do know that You're longevity in this business is really remarkable.
What would you want women like me or women out
there who are listening to know about staying the course,
staying true to yourself and all the women that not
(11:16):
just in our industry, but all the women everywhere, because
it's not just applicable to show business.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I think it's really important. If I could choose one thing,
it would be to stay curious. One of my favorite
things is when I walk into a room or zoom
or a situation and I'm not the smartest person in
the room, There's always someone I can learn from, and
I think that's that keeps that spark alive in us.
(11:46):
You can see those people who think that they know everything.
A lot of the leaders in world leaders and in
our country are that way, and they just look sour
and heavy and burdened because they've lost that curiosity, and
that curiosity is well, that's that's the laura. Yep, that's
what it is, and and that's what will keep me
(12:10):
vibrant and vital and excited about getting up in the
morning and doing something and learning something that curiosity, stay curious,
stay curious.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That is great advice. Wow, I just love our conversation
that you are. I'm just I'm in awe of you.
I want to I want to be you. Kind of
is that weird?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
I love the laura inside of you so much. It's
so present. It's just it's you've come so far. Wow,
you've you're a great example.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Oh, bless your heart. So are you. I think we're
sort of in like the same kind of pace and
this will serve us really well. You know, we'll we'll
we'll reconnoiter in our in our eighties. Well I'll be
in my eighties before you. I will see where we
are then do.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I'm so curious what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
I don't know, but I anticipate great things.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Great things. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh, thank you so much for inviting me. This was
really special. And I do hope our past cross in
person at some point because that would be really nice.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I do too. I will give you the biggest hug.
I hope it's not too weird.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
No, not at all. It won't be all.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Have great back, okay, all right, thank you Melissa,
Hosts And Creators
Tori Spelling
Jennie Garth
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