Meredith baxter is gay
The “Family Ties” luminary ends the Sapphic speculation in an interview on “The Today Show.”
Meredith Baxter, best known for her role as Elyse Keaton, on the ’80s television hit, Family Ties, chose to reach out this morning on the Today Show with Matt Lauer, saying, “I’m a lesbian, and it was a later-in-life recognition of that fact.”
For the normally private Baxter, coming out on national television was a daunting prospect, “I have to admit to a certain level of anxiety. I’m a very private person, I’ve always lived a very secret life and to come out and disclose stuff is really antithetical to who I am.”
Rumors began swirling around the actor when she was spotted and recognized by many of the passengers on a recent cruise with the lesbian tour company Sweet. While Baxter enjoyed the support, she also realized that if she was going to come out on her hold terms she would have to execute it quickly. Though a short, speculative story about her appearance on the Sweet cruise was published in the National Enquirer, the news did not hit the mainstream press until today.
“I don’t want to be worried a
Beloved TV sitcom mom Meredith Baxter revealed today that she is a sapphic who has been been involved in a serious gay relationship for four years.
"I'm a queer woman , and it was later-in-life recognition," she told NBC's "Today" Show this morning.
"Some people would say, well, you're living a stretch and, you comprehend, the truth is, not at all. This has only been for the past seven years."
In a revealing interview with Matt Lauer, the iconic "Family Ties" actress established for playing Michael J. Fox's mother on the 1980s TV series confessed that she's been leading a double-life as a closeted lesbian for seven years.
"I had a superb deal of difficulty connecting with men in relationships," Baxter said this morning. "I assumed I was a bad picker ... It never occurred to me to think, 'Oh, it's me.'"
Baxter, 62, said she came to the realization that she was homosexual late in animation when she became involved with a same-sex partner and had an "awakening." She said she is currently deeply interested in a four-year relationship with a same-sex partner.
The TV mom was prompted to tell her story as rumors about her sexuality swirled amid tabloid reports that she was on a lesbian
Meredith Baxter, on 'Oprah,' Calls Girlfriend the 'Healthiest Relationship I Ever Had'
March 2, 2011 — -- Meredith Baxter led a "secret life" as an emotionally abused wife for years before education she was gay and entering "the healthiest relationship I contain ever had," the star of the '80s show, "Family Ties," told Oprah Winfrey today while holding the hand of her lesbian partner.
Baxter, 63, also united by her former television co-star, Michael Gross, and her children, appeared on "Oprah" to talk about her allegedly abusive marriage and what led her to identify she was gay.
"I was a very conventional girl," she told Winfrey. "I was raised in a household where my mother got married and I reflection that was what you did."
When she first learned she was a lesbian in 2002, Baxter said, "It didn't scare me and I don't know why I wasn't confused about it."
"I felt alive in way I had not experienced, and existence was rife with possibilities," she said. "OK, I'm ready."
Baxter and her partner, general contractor Nancy Locke, 54, have lived together since 2005.
But
'Family Ties' Mom Meredith Baxter Joins Group of Later-in-Life Lesbians
Dec. 2, 2009 — -- Today, Meredith Baxter revealed the gender to which her heart is truly tied: women.
Baxter, the actress best known for playing hippie mom Elyse Keaton on the 1980s sitcom "Family Ties," announced that she's a queer woman and has been keeping her sexual preference a secret for seven years.
"I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition," Baxter said on NBC's "Today" show. "Some people would say, skillfully, you're living a deception and, you know, the truth is -- not at all. This has only been for the past seven years."
Baxter, 62 and thrice divorced, came out following the National Enquirer's November report that she was spotted "traveling with a female friend" on a Caribbean cruise sponsored by lesbian move company Sweet.
"I've always lived a very private life." she said on "Today." "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."
How did Baxter reali