Meredith Baxter

Meredith Baxter is an American actress best known for playing Elyse Keaton — the liberal, understanding mother — on Family Ties (NBC, 1982–1989). She came out as lesbian in a 2009 Today show interview, speaking about her 6-year relationship with Nancy Locke, who she married in 2013. Baxter had been married to men three times previously and spoke about the journey of understanding and accepting her own sexuality relatively late in life. Her coming out was a significant cultural moment, given the beloved quality of her Family Ties role in the American cultural imagination.