‘Little House on the Prairie’: Michael Landon Started a ‘Campaign’ to ‘Break Me Down’ After a Simple Request Claims Karen Grassle

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• Little House on the Prairie star Karen Grassle opened up about her complicated relationship with Michael Landon in a new memoir.
• She claims that Landon started a “campaign” to ‘break me down’ after she requested a raise.
• The “campaign” included behavior that she now knows was sexual harrassment.

Little House on the Prairie star Karen Grassle (Ma Ingalls) recently published her memoir titled Bright Lights, Prairie Dust. Subtitled “Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma,” the new book chronicles Grassle’s career in theater and on TV.

She also shares details about her private life, including her struggles with alcoholism. And she dishes on her relationship with the late Michael Landon. According to Grassle, her co-star started a “campaign” on the set to break her down after she asked for a raise.

The ‘Little House on the Prairie’ star was the opposite of her on-screen persona

Grassle starred as Caroline “Ma” Ingalls for nine seasons and 182 episodes of Little House on the Prairie between 1974 and 1982. In the popular G-rated series, Grassle’s character was the matriarch of the wholesome Ingalls family — a doting wife and Christian mother of five who lived with her family in 19th century Minnesota.

But according to Grassle, she was absolutely nothing like her on-screen persona. Instead, she was a self-hating addict who had a string of failed romances, two unwanted pregnancies, and a not-so-great relationship with her TV husband.

Karen Grassle vividly remembers her audition

When Grassle auditioned for the role of Caroline, she had just moved from New York to Los Angeles and was an unknown actor in Hollywood. It was quite the achievement to land the part, and she still remembers how the audition at Paramount Studios went in January 1973.

“I was told to wear a dress and no make-up,” Grassle writes.“In the 70s, it was common for actresses in Hollywood to wear tight jeans and little tops that revealed their midriffs, false eyelashes and plenty of eyeliner. That look was ‘in,’ but the look, [my] agent said, was not helping Michael Landon cast Caroline Ingalls, Pioneer Mom.”

She arrived in a modest dress, and the only makeup she wore was a touch of brown eye shadow. Grassle says it was a winning strategy because just minutes after doing a test scene, she says Landon “sprung up from the floor like a jack-in-the-box and exclaimed, ‘Send her to wardrobe!”

The ‘Little House on the Prairie’ star says Michael Landon started a ‘campaign’ against her

Grassle remembers her first season of Little House fondly. She told The New York Post that Landon was a demanding boss, but he was also an “amazing multi-talented person.”

“He was very highly strung, but he was carrying the weight of the show on his shoulders,” Grassle said.

The 79-year-old told Closer Weekly that she and Landon “worked together very well.” And people would always tell her what great chemistry they had.

Grassle’s salary was between $2,000 and $4,000 per week during the height of her fame on Little House, which was a decent wage for a TV series actor at the time. But after their wildly successful first season, Grassle says she asked Landon for a raise. However, he turned her down because he believed her earnings should correspond with what the child actors were making.

“I felt insulted as his co-star on a hit series,” she admits. “I didn’t want to gouge anybody, but I expected a fair wage.”

Karen Grassle claims Michael Landon would make disgusting jokes on set

After Landon turned down her raise request, Grassle claims that “he started this campaign on the set to try to sort of break me down and diminish my value to the show.” She says Landon — who was also the series’ executive producer and writer — left her out of storylines and cut her scenes. Landon and the crew would also make fun of her figure and facial expressions while reviewing the daily footage.

But the worst part — she says — was the sexual harassment. Grassle explained that Landon’s filthy language and rude conduct made her want “to disappear.”

“Mike would say ‘c__’ and make disgusting jokes about how a woman smelled after sex,” Grassle recalled. “It was almost like I was frozen. But, as a woman in the 1970s film industry, I was so accustomed to these putdowns, it never occurred to me to sharply rebuke him. I kept up the professionalism. I’d be the good girl, play the part and hope.”

The ‘Little House on the Prairie’ star cheated on her fiancé with a guest star

Grassle admits that in the 1970s, she was a “mess.” In addition to being a functioning alcoholic while starring as Ma Ingalls, she admits that she cheated on her then-fiancé with Little House guest star Gil Gerard. In her memoir she writes that Gerard later contacted her and told her she might have contracted gonorrhea.

The actor says it wasn’t until she got sober that she looked back and realized how much she truly admired her TV alter ego.

“I didn’t suspect that my true desire was for stability, a husband who wanted a family, and children of my own,” Grassle writes. “I didn’t have a clue that I wanted what Caroline Ingalls actually had.”

Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma is now available in stores.

All episodes of Little House on the Prairie are available to stream exclusively on Peacock.