‘Little House on the Prairie’ Star Reveals ‘Resentment and Anger’ Towards Michael Landon

Tensions between Little House on the Prairie stars Michael Landon and Karen Grassle were so bad that Grassle, who starred as Caroline “Ma” Ingalls on the NBC drama for eight seasons, distanced herself fully from the experience for nearly 40 years. In recent years, she began to embrace the show and what it means to its fans.

Grassle reunited with her fellow co-stars in Simi Valley, CA recently to meet fans and reminisce about their days on the show. She opened up about her contentious relationship with Landon, who starred on the show as the beloved patriarch Charles Ingalls. 

She says their issues began the show’s sophomore season when Landon denied her a raise. Grassle tells PEOPLE, “I ran myself into the ground with resentment and anger and hurt feelings and just pure exhaustion.”

Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson, tells the publication Landon was “Absolutely a force of nature and could be very strong-willed. And he was the director and producer and star and writer.” Of the tension between the on-screen husband and wife, Arngrim adds “I did see that if somebody else was really strong-willed [like Landon]…they would absolutely butt heads, heels would be dug in.”

Grassle would later explain in her memoir “Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma,” that Landon made sexist jokes on set directed toward her. She ultimately left the show in Season 8. It ran one final season without her. A reboot is currently in the works at Netflix.

“I had limited my interactions with fans very much. I really didn’t go to many events. I didn’t hang out with everybody. I separated myself,” she continued. She changed her tune in 2021. “I’ve got to get out there. So I started with social media and I started going out to these events. I was astonished at what I learned about people’s affection for the character of Caroline.”

Landon died in 1991 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Grassle says she is astonished by how much the show, and her character specifically, still resonates with viewers. “I had no idea the depth of affection that people had for this character. It just filled my heart because I worked so hard to make something special out of that character, and there were many days that I did not look forward to going to work,” she said.