Alison Arngrim was 48 years old when she publicly revealed she was sexually abused by a family member starting at age 6.
It was 2004 when the actress, who played mean girl Nellie Oleson in “Little House on the Prairie,” first told her story to Larry King. She described how appearing in the hit TV series saved her sanity in her 2011 memoir “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch.”
The star has become an advocate for child sex abuse victims, but her work is far from done, she insisted.
Arngrim is the president of the National Association to Protect Children, a nonprofit that aims to give children a legal and political voice in “the war against child abuse.”
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Arngrim wants to combat predators who seek places where children can be found unsupervised. Places like Hollywood continue to be a hot spot, she said.
“Hollywood still has a sex abuse problem,” Arngrim told Fox News Digital. “Whenever you have an environment where there are lots of children … there’s going to be predators. There’s going to be someone who wants a job where they have unfettered access to young children all day. And the more that job involves completely unsupervised access to children, the more attractive that job is going to be.”
“We have lots of people who have sacrificed their whole lives to help children,” Arngrim shared. “But, sadly, there are others who aren’t that way.”
According to the organization’s website, it has worked in Congress and in over 27 states to craft legislation that leads to stronger, tougher laws that combat child exploitation.
“There’s a lot to do,” said Arngrim. “We all think if someone gets arrested for child molestation, sexual abuse, they will go to jail, and they will be on a sex offender’s list. But that’s not always the case. There are cases where they are let go, which is bonkers.
“We are looking for those loopholes in many states to help protect children. … If you’re in a state that doesn’t have specific rules and laws on set, especially for working children [in the entertainment industry], that’s a problem. And we need to address it.”
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Arngrim admitted that, for years, she kept her childhood abuse a secret out of shame. Getting the chance to finally tell her story was freeing.
“The focus and shame are often put on the victim,” said Arngrim. “But shouldn’t it be on the person who did this?… When the Larry King episode aired, I felt like a weight was off my shoulders.”
For Arngrim, pain turned into purpose.
“There are laws that say a child can only work so many hours at a store, but those same laws don’t always apply to a child on a film or TV set,” she said. “They’re exempt. Laws were created in California where you have massive regulations, but some unscrupulous producers will shoot shows in other parts of the country so that they do not have to follow any of those regulations.”
Arngrim noted that, as a child actress, she felt safe on the set of “Little House on the Prairie,” which aired from 1974 to 1983.
“We had major regulations and, thank God, we followed them to the letter,” she explained. “And [director] Michael Landon started working [in Hollywood] when he was really young. And look, he was hardly Pa Ingalls. He smoked and drank. He knew what the world outside ‘Little House’ could be. [But] it was important for him to create a safe space for his crew.
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“He came from ‘Bonanza,’ and many of the crew members came from the show too, so he had already known them for years, long before he started ‘Little House,’” Arngrim shared. “And many of them followed him to ‘Highway to Heaven.’ Many of the extras, the kids you saw in the schoolrooms, were children of the crew members, the electricians. Everyone was on set.
“He also prioritized school,” Arngrim continued. “He made sure our teachers were there with a stopwatch to make sure we didn’t miss out on class. He made sure we always had lunch. I even remember when Michael’s kids would be on set. The rule was they could only be on the set during their summer breaks if their grades were at the proper level and their schoolwork was done well. Otherwise, they had to go to summer school. They couldn’t just hang out on the set.”
Her castmates weren’t exempt. They were also required to have good grades.
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“Nothing got past Michael,” Arngrim chuckled. “He wanted to do things by the book. He also wanted everybody to go home at a reasonable time so they could spend time with their families. And with having such a huge kids cast, I’m sure he was relieved too. But I remember we would be done by 5, and everyone was out the door. Sure, you could spend another hour or two shooting a few scenes, especially the adults. But Michael made sure we were on our way home by 6 for dinner. And it worked.”
Landon died in 1991 at age 54 from pancreatic cancer.
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“I felt very safe on the ‘Little House’ set,” Arngrim reflected. “I felt that if we ever went to any one of the crew members and said, ‘This person is bothering me,’ we wouldn’t find the body for weeks. It was just an extraordinarily protective set. It was an excellent atmosphere. Michael wanted this show to thrive. And if the kids weren’t taken care of, and we weren’t following the rules, we wouldn’t have a show.
“Not mistreating your children is the more profitable move.”
Today, Arngrim hopes parents eager to put their kids in showbiz will look for telltale signs of trouble.
“There’s always going to be a predatory problem, especially in Hollywood, because it’s so easy,” she said. “Look at how many parents are so desperate to see their kids become famous. … People can get crazy with [the idea of fame].
“If they meet someone who says they’re a manager, an agent, a photographer or talent scout, and they want to be alone with your kid, or they want to take your kid to a different location for an audition or whatever … they’ll just see this promise of fame. And things will happen. It happens all the time.
“That’s a problem. Parents will drop their kids off at a guy’s house, no questions asked, because they’ll say, ‘Well, this person said my child will be on TV,’” she added. “Meanwhile, the predator is thinking, ‘I’ve hit the jackpot.’
“That’s why they’re predators. They look for the weak spots. They look for the kid from the broken home, the kid having trouble in school, the kid whose parents are maybe working two to three jobs and maybe aren’t paying attention. … We need to be vigilant in this business. … It’s gotten better since my day, but there’s more to be done.”
