Meredith Ann Baxter (born June 21, 1947) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her acting roles including three television series: Family (1976–80), an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties (1982–89), an NBC television-network situation comedy, and as a voice actress in Dan Vs. (2011–13), an animated situation comedy on The Hub television-network.

Biography

Marriages and children

Baxter has been married four times and has five children. In 1966, she married Robert Lewis Bush and they had two children — Theodore Justin ("Ted"; born 1967) and Eva Whitney (born August 6, 1969); the couple divorced in 1971. In 1974, she married David Birney and had three children — Kathleen Jeanne ("Kate"; born December 5, 1974) and twins Mollie Elizabeth and Peter David Edwin (born October 2, 1984). She and David Birney divorced in 1989. In 1995, she married actor and screenwriter Michael Blodgett; they were divorced in 2000.

On December 2, 2009, she came out as a lesbian during an interview with Matt Lauer on Today, and on the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ 102. In 2005, she began a relationship with Nancy Locke, a general contractor. They were married on December 8, 2013, in Los Angeles.

Baxter said that she did not realize she was gay until she began her first same-sex relationship in 2002. She stated that finally coming to terms with her sexual orientation opened her eyes to the fact that for many years she knew something was different about her and why her relationships with men had failed.


Health issues
Baxter was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999 for which she was treated and from which she has fully recovered.