'Family Ties' mom: ‘I am a lesbian’

For seven years, actress Meredith Baxter has been hiding a secret.

Now, Baxter, who played the devoted hippie mom constantly butting heads with her conservative kids on “Family Ties,” is making a public admission.

“I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition,” she told Matt Lauer on TODAY. “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.” ... Read the full story.

Video: Watch Meredith Baxter's discussion with Matt Lauer


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As the straight ex wife of a deeply closeted gay man, I have to say I laughed at her admission that maybe she was at fault for problems in her three marriages. It was refreshing. I have found that in my own life, and in my straight spouse network support group, there's a tendency for the gay spouse to justify ending the marriage because of the straight spouse's shortcomings, rather than acknowledge that no matter what the straight one does it can never be good enough for the gay one. Her statement that she's not living a lie is also typical of the dual thinking that gay spouses have - she WAS living one through her marriages, and I wonder why there is never any discussion on the struggle to live an authentic life for the straight husbands whose emotions and sexuality are often shattered by women like this. Maybe the Today show would like to do a segment on what husbands feel and experience, and how the straight spouse network helps them. People just don't know that yeah, there's a support group for that. Men are so often ridiculed for having a lesbian wife.

    Reply#1 - Thu Dec 3, 2009 4:00 AM EST
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