''I got involved with someone I never expected to get involved with, and it was that kind of awakening. I never fought it because it was like, oh, I understand why I had the issues I had early in life. I had a great deal of difficulty connecting with men in relationships.... It never occurred to me to think, oh, [the problem is] me.... I said [to my children], 'I think I'm gay.' My oldest boy said, 'I knew.' You know, I think he was a smart aleck, but the rest of them were just very loving and supportive.... I don't want to be worried all the time.... I did not want some tabloid to take my story and make it up. So I wanted it to be in my own words.... All my pals on 'Family Ties' know.... It's been brought to my attention that this is a political act, even though, that's not what it feels like to me. It feels like personal exposure, and it's uncomfortable.... If I can be that-lesbian-you-know now, 'Okay, if I vote this way, than that, that might actually affect this person I know. That -- that Meredith.'''
Actress Meredith Baxter (-Birney), of the popular 1980s show ''Family Ties'' where she played TV mom to the Keatons including actors Michael J Fox, Justine Bateman and Tina Yothers. She's telling the Today Show about her her journey through three marriages to men, what it was like to tell her children, and the posting of photos by Perez Hilton this week of the actress with her contractor girlfriend, Nancy Locke, as well a "threat" from another tabloid magazine after she took a vacation on a lesbian cruise boat. (NBC Today Show)
