Gilbert won't seek SAG re-election

LOS ANGELES, July 22 (UPI) -- Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert says political infighting has prompted her to step down after her second term ends.

"The past four years have been remarkable -- at times frustrating -- but incredibly rewarding," Gilbert said in a statement released Thursday, the last day for candidates to declare their candidacy, The Hollywood Reporter said.

"It is no big secret that there are problems within the leadership of SAG," she said. "There are rifts that may very well be irreparable."

However, she added she still believes in the power of SAG and warned future leaders she would be "watching them like a hawk."

The actress best known as Laura on TV's long-running "Little House on the Prairie," Gilbert will keep her seat on the executive council of the AFL-CIO, as vice president of the California State Federation of Labor and on the California Film Commission, the newspaper said.