Timothy Busfield's mother-in-law, Barbara Cowan, defended his character while comparing him to her "real son" as he faces allegations of child sex abuse. "I could not love and respect him more if I had carried him as my own," she wrote in a letter to the judge overseeing the case against Busfield, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. "I am sorry for any one who has not been graced [with] his love, generosity, kindness, playfulness, caring, teachings, availability, strength, and on and on." Cowan, 89, is the mother of Little House on the Prairie alum Melissa Gilbert.