As the plucky Laura Ingalls on TV's "Little House on the Prairie," beginning in the mid-1970s, "Dancing with the Stars" Season 14 contender Melissa Gilbert epitomized girl power.

Playing "Half Pint," the tomboyish daughter of Charles (Michael Landon) and Caroline (Karen Grassle) Ingalls, she served as a model of independence for millions of young girls growing up across the country. And like the character she grew up playing, Melissa too, is a bit of a rebel.

PLAY IT NOW: Melissa Gilbert Talks Tattoos & Nearly Falling During ‘Dancing’

She has a similar sense of devotion to her family as her iconic television character did (the actress' sons have already been spotted several times cheering mom on from the "DWTS" audience), but Melissa has a distinctive wild side all her own. Instead of rolling in the mud a la Laura with Nellie Oleson, Melissa is fantastically fit mom with a host of meaningful tattoos.

"I think I've always just been me. Even when I was playing Laura on 'Little House on the Prairie,' that wasn't me, that was just me in that dress. So inside me has always been the same person -- a little wild, a little rebellious, very analytical, very emotional and basically a happy person," Melissa told Access Hollywood on Tuesday following the "DWTS" results show, when asked about her ink.

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And the 47-year-old actress revealed her seven tattoos all have deeply personal meanings.

"I have my father's initials tattooed on one part of my arm," she told Access on Monday night, referring to her late dad, actor Paul Gilbert, who passed away in 1975.

And in another spot, the actress, who played Laura for nearly a decade, has another family-inspired bit of ink.

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"I have the family motto inside my wrist," she said. "Love. Trust. Hope. Believe."

The sentimental star said the tattoos are reminders of her history.

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"It's such a long story for each of them... Going through difficult times, mourning the loss of my father a second time, actually, as an adult. And my family went through some tough stuff this year and I felt the need to put the motto on my arm," she said. (The actress filed for divorce from her husband of 16-years, Bruce Boxleitner, in late August 2011.)

Earlier this week, on "Dancing," Melissa and Maks took to the ballroom with a quickstep to "Dancing with Myself," a song from her ex-boyfriend, '80s rocker Billy Idol. Showing off her own rock 'n' roll streak, Melissa admitted she's can't help but be a fan of getting body ink.

"There's a few everywhere. I like them," she said.

"They all have meaning. There's nothing frivolous tattooed on my body," she added.

From Dev.D to Shaitan, the characters you have portrayed have either dark or psychotic shades. Don’t you fear being typecast in such roles?
First of all, I don’t think any of the characters are similar. Yeah, they are dark, but each of them is completely different in terms of the journey that they go through. In that way, I can say that a Kareena Kapoor or a Katrina Kaif or any commercial actor is typecast in the good-girl or the sweet romantic comedy genre. But honestly, I don’t think any of these characters are similar. Obviously I am doing other films as well. As long as I don’t think I have repeated myself, and I don’t think I have in Dev.D or Shaitan. The characters have been dark but very different.

Coming to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara…. Given the big names in the film, were you not worried about getting lost in the film?
No, absolutely not. First of all, it’s not even in that league. The story is about three men. I am not trying to be the star of the film. For me it’s about an interesting character and challenge. If I wanted to only do roles where I am the centre of attention, then I wouldn’t be doing the kind of cinema that I am doing.

Zoya’s filmmaking style is different from Anurag Kashyap and his ilk. What was your experience working in a set-up like Zindagi…?
Zoya is not your typical, full-on commercial filmmaker. I think she is in between commercial and art house cinema, but definitely it is a different kind of filmmaking. There is less stress; more time spent on certain elements, which in a smaller budget you have to be restrictive about. It was actually a more relaxed shoot, but it was still very real in terms of the emotions she was telling us to go through. It wasn’t stereotyped or limited in that way. I think Zoya is somebody who works very well on characters. The production itself is more commercial and obviously big-budget, so they have more money to spend on the art or more time to spend on how pretty we look (laughs). But definitely there is sincerity to the characters.