Melissa Gilbert, best known for playing Laura Ingalls in 'Little House on the Prairie', has revealed that she suffers from a neurological disorder called misophonia.
The celebrity actress said she “sobbed” when she found out her intense reactions to certain sounds were actually part of a diagnosed and treatable condition. Gilbert admitted that from a young age, she had a hard time dealing with sounds that would make her angry, like chewing, clapping, gum popping and clicking nails. people “If my kids were chewing gum or eating or banging their fingernails on the table, I would want to run away,” she said in the August 20 issue of “I would turn red, my eyes would be flooded with tears, and I would just sit there and feel absolutely miserable and incredibly guilty for feeling so much hate toward all the people I love,” she told People magazine.
“When I found out this disease had a name and I wasn't just a bad person, I cried,” said Gilbert, 60.
She is currently Duke University Center for Misophonia and Emotion Regulation She works at Duke University School of Medicine to raise awareness about the disease and help others who suffer like she did.
She told fans that her illness led her to “a really dark and trying time in my childhood,” and that she now understands what it was that she was suffering from and has found ways to cope. Gilbert explained that misophonia is a condition that causes strong emotional and physiological responses to sounds and visuals, but that her family didn't understand her condition when she was younger.
“I felt really disrespected and I felt really bad. And I felt guilty, which is a big part of misophonia – feeling guilt about those fight-or-flight feelings. It's a really isolating disorder,” she told People magazine.
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 5, 2005: Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert poses in the press room at the 11th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Steven Sugarman/Getty Images)
Years later, she became a mother to children of her own who were also affected by her behavioral responses.
“I would make my hands like a puppet, pretend I was chewing gum, and make the hand signal to snap it shut – like, close your mouth!,” she said. “My poor kids grew up watching me do this all the time. They weren't allowed to eat gum.”
Unspecified – circa 1970: Little House on the Prairie photo. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The famous actress discovered the Misophonia Center at Duke University in 2023 and discovered there was a way to treat her condition.
“I just wrote it on a whim: 'I need help. Please help,'” Gilbert admitted.
She underwent CBT therapy. (Related article: Colin Farrell launches foundation to help people with same neurological disorder as his son)
“I realized that I can ride out these waves but they don't go away, they never go away. But now I have all the tools to be more comfortable and less triggered, so I feel more in control,” she said. “Everyone around me doesn't have to be so nervous. My life has completely changed.”
