Meredith Baxter comes out with Matt Lauer
Meredith Baxter, 62, who played the very hip mom Elyse Keaton to Michael J. Fox's right-wing character in the 1980's sitcom "Family Ties" has come out about her relationship with a woman for the past four years.
Baxter was married three times and has five children.
She went on the "Today" show Wednesday (Dec. 2) to pre-empt tabloid threats to show her with her new girlfriend.
"I've always lived a very private life," the actress said. "To come out and disclose stuff is very antithetical to who I am. ... [But] I did not want some tabloid to take the story and make it up -- I wanted it to be in my own words."
After years of poor marriages and unsuccessful relationships with me, she found a woman 13 years ago and had a brief romance. Four years ago she partnered with a general contractor, Nancy Locke.
In the interview, she said, "I got involved with someone I never expected to get involved with, and it was that kind of awakening, I never fought it because it was like, 'Oh, I understand why I had the issues I had early in life.' I had a great deal of difficulty connecting with men in relationships."
Once considered "America's Mom" or the 1980's version of a "Brady Bunch" model mother, Baxter said she dealt with her own family pretty honestly.
"I said, 'I think I'm gay,' and my oldest boy said, 'I knew,' " the actress said. "The support from my family and anyone close to me has been so immediate and unqualified."
Although she doesn't use the B-word to call herself bisexual, Baxter joins comedienne Wanda Sykes, "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon, comic Carol Leifer, actress Anne Heche and other actresses who have been married who have later talked about same-sex relationships.
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Meredith Baxter on the "Today Show"
Comments
if she lives a private life why come out now to disclose her sexual orientation? i really don't understand. come out to your family and friends but why millions of viewers who don't know her personally and only know of her thru a TV show. it's like she owes it to the world to tell us. if she's gay fine but does anyone really give a hoot who she's attracted to? this is a waste of air time and i don't find this newsworthy at all. people know gay people exist. big deal. so now we know one more gay person exists. big deal. i did enjoy her show in the 80s, though.
patchworkquilt- did you even read the article? It states very clearly that she came out in order to pre-empt the tabloid reveal- if nobody was going to report on it, she would have continued to live her private life. But if it was going to be disclosed anyways, she wanted it on her terms. Reading comprehension 101 . . .
Anyways, nice article, although I did find the little typo "After years of poor marriages and unsuccessful relationships with me," quite funny, in a Freudian slip kinda way. :)
the tabs should be put out of business. people who read this stuff have cotton candy for brains. read something unspun and factual. personally, i wouldn't pay one cent for such mags. so she had a good reason to come forth -- ok, but i still don't find it newsworthy. plenty people are gay and they don't reveal their gayness on national TV. must be a slow newsday. MBB hasn't been in the spotlight for years. had no idea the tabs cared about her sexual orientation!!! it's none of their business. reporting on someone's personal life should be off limits unless the person being reported on brings it up.
Meredit Baxter is a Lesbian, why is an article about her in a group about bisexuals and things that relate to being bisexual only?
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