Melissa Gilbert Opens Up About Past Addiction

Melissa Gilbert became one of America's most beloved child stars with her starring role on the long-running TV series Little House on the Prairie. Now the actress is opening up about her alcohol addiction that developed in the shadow of her fame and she discusses her own efforts to combat the abuse of prescription drugs by young people.

The former contestant on last season's Dancing with the Stars ended her run on Little House on the Prairie in 1983, and explains that she didn't have addiction problems until years later. "When I hit my late thirties, and my grandfather passed away and something in me just triggered, and I started having a hard time falling asleep." She revealed that at her worst, she was consuming about two bottles of wine per night in a bid to drown her pain.

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Gilbert said that once she got sober, she was reluctant to even accept painkillers -- even after she broke her back while performing a stage musical production of Little House about a year-and-a-half before she did DWTS -- for fear that she would become addicted. She also suffered a concussion during the hit ABC dancing competition, but again said she did not turn to prescription pain pills.

Gilbert also said she had to deal with drug and alcohol addiction with her own kids and she spoke about the huge problem of prescription drug addiction today, especially among youth. "This problem is so pervasive. But the thing that's at the heart of it that gets me is that when a parent finds out that their child has a drug problem they immediately feel like it's just them."

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The star said growing up today as a child star is dramatically different than when she was young. "There's something different now that didn't exist when I was growing up," she said. "Now everyone is a paparazzi. Everyone who has a phone can take a picture of you anywhere at anytime, doing anything -- there is absolutely no privacy."

Gilbert currently works with the organization The Partnership at Drugfree.org, which seeks to help parents persuade their children not to try
prescription drugs over the next five years.

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Watch the video to also hear Melissa weigh in on Lindsay Lohan's recent troubles and for her tips for parents to attempt to keep drugs and alcohol away from their kids.