Timothy Busfield reportedly stated during February grand jury testimony that he believes the fate of his career has already been determined. In January 2026, the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico issued an arrest warrant for Busfield after he was accused of child sex abuse. Later that month, NBC did not air a scheduled episode of Law & Order: SVU featuring Busfield. Amazon MGM Studios also digitally removed his role from the romantic comedy You Deserve Each Other.
Timothy Busfield says his ‘career is done’ amid child sex abuse case
According to USA Today, Busfield appeared before a 12-member Albuquerque grand jury on February 5 following his indictment. During his testimony, he said he would never work again because of the child sex abuse allegations. “My career’s done,” the Thirtysomething actor said. “I’m canceled. I’ll never, I don’t, I’ll never work again just based on people’s fear that I would do this again and, and even if it wasn’t true, I’m done. I’ve lost TV shows, a movie they’ve digitally replaced me from. My agency fired me. I’m done. This is not about me or a pity thing.”
Busfield added, “My children, grandchildren, everybody in my life is done because of these false allegations for money and for revenge.”
USA Today stated that it obtained the testimony from the Albuquerque district attorney’s office. The parents of Busfield’s twin minor co-stars in The Cleaning Lady accused him of child sex abuse in January. According to The Guardian, prosecutors charged him with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse.
During his testimony, Busfield called the parents “criminals.” He also claimed that they “ruined him.” He continued, “And my wife [actress Melissa Gilbert] and her business, I’m not going to break that.”
Busfield denied the allegations against him. He claimed the parents were seeking revenge after the show dropped the twins in Season 4.
Larry Stein, Busfield’s attorney, told USA Today that the indictment did not come as “unexpected.”
