OUR LATEST ISSUE
'I had to reach a level of comfort because it wasn't fair to push her back into secrecy,' she said of her partner
Meredith Baxter has come out
Ronald Reagan's favourite sitcom star comes out as a lesbian
Meredith Baxter, one of the stars of the 1980s sitcom Family Ties, came out on America's Today show yesterday, following reports in the National Enquirer that she was spotted on a lesbian cruise in the Caribbean.
Baxter, who has been with her current partner, who is out, for four years, said: "I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition. Some people would say, well, you're living a lie and, you know, the truth is - not at all. This has only been for the past seven years...I've always lived a very private life. To come out and disclose stuff is very antithetical to who I am...I did not want some tabloid to take the story and make it up - I wanted it to be in my own words."
Family Ties, which ran from 1982 to 1989, was perceived to reflect America's shift from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s to the conservatism of the 1980s. Baxter played the liberal, former hippy mother of Michael J Fox's character, a Young Republican, whose hero was President Ronald Reagan. Reagan returned the compliment by declaring the show to be his favourite television programme.
Baxter was mindful of the effect that the revelation would have on her partner. "I had to reach a level of comfort because it wasn't fair to push her back into secrecy. We live very out lives in Los Angeles," she said.
Of the moment she revealed her sexuality to her children, she said: "I said, 'I think I'm gay,' and my oldest boy said, 'I knew.' The support from my family and anyone close to me has been so immediate and unqualified. I've really been blessed."
