In August 2023, Melissa Gilbert appeared on an episode of Wilder, where she talked about her role as Laura Ingalls Wilder in the TV adaptation of her semi-autobiographical Little House on the Prairie book series. Reflecting on her past, Gilbert raised concerns about the significant eight-year age difference between her and Dean Butler, who portrayed her on-screen husband, Almanzo Wilder.
During their first on-screen kiss, which also happened to be Gilbert's inaugural real-life kiss, she was a young teenager, while Butler was in his twenties.