Former LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE star Melissa Gilbert has opened up about losing ROB LOWE's baby and the actor himself in a new tell-all book.

The actress met the ageing hunk when she was just 14 and fell "hopelessly and stupidly in love", and agreed to marry the actor when he proposed in 1986.

But, in Prairie Tales, Gilbert talks about her heartache when she suffered a miscarriage after a nervous Lowe called off their romance.

After telling Lowe she was pregnant with his child, she tells People magazine, "He said very softly, 'I can't be a father.' Before I could respond, he said, 'I can't be a husband. I'm so sorry.'"

But the worst was yet to come - when Gilbert lost the child.

She adds, "I had lost my baby and my relationship with Rob... and it hurt like hell."