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By Michaela Gordoni
Rachel Greenbush, who played Carrie with her twin sister, Sydney, says she felt a “tragic loss” after she left LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE at age 12.
The girls joined LITTLE HOUSE in its pilot episode when they were 3 years old and left after Season 8.
“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,” Greenbush said on the “Little House 50” podcast recently. “You’re always on pins and needles, ‘Are we coming back? Are we not coming back?’”
Though she knew “logically” she wouldn’t always be on the show, she felt in her heart that her time wouldn’t come to an end.
Related: LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE Actress Hersha Parady Dies at 78
“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,” she explained.
Greenbush recalled that after she left, “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 had built up strong bonds with her cast mates, and her life felt strange and empty when she left.
“It’s 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 said.
The show was all Greenbush knew. She would attend school on set with other child actors and her co-star’s kids. So when she left, all of a sudden, she was without friends and the people she grew up with.
She explained, “In fact, I probably got along better with them in school than in my regular school because they understood the industry.”
The show taught her to keep her word and be dependable.
“That’s something that I learned in my childhood because Michael [Landon, the director], he wanted us to be prepared and he was depending on us to be little working actors,” she said.
Greenbush previously told Buzzfeed, “Michael expected you to be prepared and to know your lines, because he was depending on you. So he expected a lot in that way, but he was always joking, making us laugh, and keeping it light-hearted and fun.”
Greenbush is grateful for the time on the show. She now shares LITTLE HOUSE with her grandchildren, who always ask to watch it when they visit her.
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