‘Little House on the Prairie’: Rachel Greenbush Details ‘Tragic Loss’ of Leaving the Show
What To Know
- Rachel Greenbush, who played Carrie Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, described leaving the show after Season 8.
- She reflected on the emotional difficulty of abruptly losing close bonds with her castmates.
- Greenbush explained that while actors expect roles to end, the deep connections formed on set make such departures particularly hard to process.
Little House on the Prairie star Rachel Lindsay Greenbush — who played Carrie Ingalls with her twin sister, Sidney Greenbush — detailed the “tragic loss” of leaving the show.
At the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Reunion, held at the Strathearn Historical Park in Simi Valley, California, on December 12, Rachel opened up about how exiting LHOPT affected her. The former child actress left after Season 8, alongside most of the Ingalls family, including Michael Landon (Charles “Pa” Ingalls) and Karen Grassle (Caroline “Ma” Ingalls).
“It’s a really strange thing about acting, and all actors know it, that it’s not forever, that you don’t know if it’s going to get renewed for another season,” Rachel said while chatting with moderator Pamela Bob during the reunion event, per People. “You’re always on pins and needles, ‘Are we coming back? Are we not coming back?'”
Although Rachel said she “logically” knew that LHOTP would one day come to an end for her, she admitted, “Your heart feels like it’s never going to end. This is never going to end.”
Everett Collection
She explained, “I don’t think I really realized how much it affected me until I was much older and went on the journey of reconciliation and self-discovery. Everybody separated, and I didn’t see anybody. And that was really hard for me personally because I didn’t realize how connected I had been to everybody until years later.” She compared it to parents getting a divorce and not seeing your family anymore.”
Additionally, Rachel described leaving Little House on the Prairie as “almost a tragic loss.”
“But I wouldn’t let myself acknowledge it because I was like, ‘But this is the profession. This is what we do,’” she added. “You make these really deep, intense bonds working with each other every single day and then when it’s over, you’re just supposed to be like, ‘OK, that was nice. Bye.’ And it’s really hard that way.”
Little House on the Prairie aired for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983. In addition to the Greenbush twins, Landon, and Grassle, the beloved historical drama series starred Melissa Gilbert (Laura Ingalls Wilder), Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary Ingalls), Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder), Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleseon), and many others.
Little House on the Prairie, streaming on HBO Max, Prime Video, Philo, and FRNDLY TV