Today's Out Spotlight is an American actress and producer. As successful actress she is known for her acting roles including become an iconic TV mom. After several marriages, she came out as a lesbian in 2009, at the age of 58. Today's Out Spotlight is Meridith Baxter.
Meredith Ann Baxter, also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, was born in South Pasadena, California, on June 21, 1947. The daughter of actress turned director/producer Whitney Blake and Tom Baxter, a radio announcer, she was raised in Pasadena, with her two brothers, Richard and Brian. Her second stepfather was situation-comedy writer Allan Manings.
After guest appearances on such shows as
The Young Lawyers,The Doris Day Show, and The Partridge Family she got her first big break on television in 1972 as one of the stars of Bridget Loves Bernie, a CBS television-network situation comedy. The series was canceled after one season, but her co-star, David Birney became her second husband in 1974. Following their marriage and until their divorce in 1989, she was credited as Meredith Baxter-Birney, under which name she became widely known several years later on the television show Family. She played the role of Nancy Lawrence Maitland and received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1977 and 1978).
Her next series was Family Ties, on which she played an ex-flower child mother, Elyse Keaton from 1982 to 1989. She joined the select club of iconic television mom from her role as mom to Alex, Mallory, Jennifer and Andy, but in reality, she is only fourteen years older than Michael J. Fox, who played her son Alex. Coincidentally, her co-star Michael Gross (who played her husband Steven Keaton) shares the same birthday, June 21, 1947.In 1986, during her time on Family Ties, Baxter garnered critical acclaim for her dramatic performance as Kate Stark in the well-known NBC television movie Kate's Secret, about a seemingly "perfect" suburban housewife and mother who is secretly suffering from bulimia nervosa. Following Family Ties, Baxter (whose marriage to Birney ended in 1989) produced and starred in several made for television movies. She portrayed a psychopathic kidnapper in The Kissing Place (1990) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for her work in A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992), based on the true story of a divorcée who was convicted of murder in the shooting of her ex-husband and his young wife. In 1994, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as a lesbian mother raising a young son, in Other Mothers (1993), a CBS Schoolbreak Special. For her work on the television film My Breast (1994), she received a special award for public awareness from the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
In 1997, Baxter once again played the mother of a character played by Michael J. Fox, this time in 2 episodes of Spin City.In 1999 she played in the lifetime movie, "Miracle in the Woods". Here she co starred alongside actress Patricia Heaton, where they are two estranged sisters, and actress Della Reese.
In 2005, she began appearing in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company. In 2006, she temporarily co-hosted — with Matt Lauer — Today, the NBC morning news and talk show.
In 2007, she made a guest appearance on What About Brian, an ABC drama series. That same year, she also made several appearances as the dying mother of Detective Lilly Rush on Cold Case, a CBS police-procedural series.In recent years, Baxter created a skin-care line called Meredith Baxter Simple Works, which raises funds for Baxter's breast cancer research foundation. She is also a spokesperson for Consumer Cellular, a cell phone company advertised as providing a cheaper cell phone alternative for senior citizens. She currently co-stars in Dan Vs., a situation comedy on The Hub television-network.
In April 2013, it was announced that Baxter will be in the Season 4 finale episode of Glee, along with Patty Duke, as a mentor to Darren Criss's character Blaine Anderson and Chris Colfer's character Kurt Hummel.
Baxter has been married three 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 was 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 Birney divorced in 1989. In 1995, she married actor and screenwriter Michael Blodgett; they were divorced in 2000.In 1999, Baxter was diagnosed with breast cancer many of her projects now raise funds for breast cancer work.
On December 2, 2009, Baxter came out as a lesbian during an interview with Matt Lauer on Today, and on the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ 102.
She’s happily settled with building contractor Nancy Locke, her partner of eight years. Baxter said that she didn't realize she was gay, until she began her first same-sex relationship in 2002. She also said that finally coming to terms with her homosexuality really opened her eyes to the fact that for many years she knew something was different about her; and why all of her relationships with men never worked out. Baxter told People magazine she was totally open with her five kids about her new identity. “I’m a lesbian mom!” she proudly announced to the world. Her son Peter was thrilled: “I just couldn’t stop smiling because she finally figured it out.”
