Actress Karen Grassle, who played Ma on the popular 1970s show Little House on the Prairie, wrote a tell-all memoir in 2021. In it, she opens up about her experiences on set. She divulges a lot of not-so-flattering information about Michael Landon, who played opposite her on the show.
The two played the perfect couple who had the perfect family on TV. But Karen says that in reality, working with Michael was kind of a nightmare. She describes him as a disrespectful drunk who harassed women and told tasteless jokes at their expense.
“Mike drank a lot during the day,” she revealed on Inside Edition. “We never knew who was going to arrive at the makeup table in the morning.”
While Karen says there wasn’t really a word for “sexual harassment” back then, now it’s pretty clear that that’s what he was doing. She even said that shooting scenes when the two were in bed together became an utter nightmare.
Michael wasn’t just Karen’s costar on the show, either. He was also an executive producer. In the 1970s, there really wouldn’t have been a lot of space for Karen to speak up about the issues happening on the set, especially when her own boss was the one causing her discomfort.
Regardless, Karen has now revealed her truth, even though she knows not everyone will be happy about her sharing her experience. “If people are upset, I’m sorry they’re upset,” she said. “But I had to tell my story.”
