Meredith Baxter is a seasoned actress who has acted in several films and sitcoms throughout her lengthy career. Baxter has been in the public eye since the 1970s and has continued to grow in popularity, despite getting older.
Although she has had a very successful career run, her personal life has not been all rosy. Baxter has been married four times; with her past three marriages ending in divorce. It, however, appears as though “the fourth time’s the charm” for the veteran actress whose present union to a person of the same sex, has been going strong for 10 years.
Meredith Baxter’s biography
Meredith Ann Baxter is an American actress and producer. She was born on June 21, 1947, in South Pasadena, in the U.S. state of California.
Baxter was the second of five children born to Whitney Blake and Tom Baxter, both of whom were in the entertainment industry. Her mother was an actress and her father was a radio announcer.
Baxter’s early life was not without its challenges. Her parents’ divorce and her father’s subsequent remarriages and divorces added complexity to her family dynamics. These experiences might have contributed to her later advocacy for issues like domestic violence and mental health.
Baxter attended James Monroe High School before transferring to Hollywood High School. In her final year, she attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts as a voice major but subsequently returned to Hollywood High, where she successfully graduated in 1965.
Baxter is predominantly American and also has some Scottish, Irish, and distant French-Canadian descent.
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Meredith Baxter’s career
Baxter made her television debut in 1970, playing a cameo role in an episode of The Partridge Family from the second season. This was her first television appearance. In 1972, she rose to prominence as one of the main characters in the CBS sitcom, Bridget Loves Bernie.
It was in 1976 when Baxter took on the part of Nancy Lawrence Maitland in the renowned television program, Family, that she truly made a name for herself. She also landed a role in the 1976 drama, All the President’s Men, as the wife of White House aide, Hugh W. Sloan Jr.
She received noteworthy recognition for her performance, which put her in the spotlight. She was recognised for her outstanding contribution in 1977 and 1978 with two nominations for the Emmy Award in the category of “Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series”.
Baxter maintained her career on television in the 1980s and 1990s. She starred in the 1981 television adaptation of the Broadway play, Vanities. She played “Elyse Keaton” in the NBC comedy, Family Ties in 1982. Baxter won acclaim for her performance as “Kate Stark” in the 1986 television movie, Kate’s Secret. The Kissing Place (1990) and A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992) are two television movies she later produced and starred in.
Baxter co-hosted the NBC morning programme, Today, in 2006 and made appearances in ads for Garden State Life Insurance Company in the 2000s. She made cameo appearances on programmes like Cold Case and What About Brian. To aid with breast cancer research, Baxter also developed the Meredith Baxter Simple Works skincare line.
Her 2011 book, “Untied”, which chronicles her life, marriages, battles with alcoholism and coming out as a lesbian, was released. Baxter voiced the character “Elise Sr.” in the Dan Vs. She made a cameo appearance on the show Switched at Birth and was featured in the fourth season finale of Glee, in 2013.
Baxter joined the CBS show, The Young and the Restless, in 2014 as “Maureen”. She portrayed the mother of “Stich” Raybourne and Kelly Andrews on the show.
Meredith Baxter movies
The veteran actress has appeared in countless projects throughout her career, ranging from sitcoms to blockbuster movies. Below are some of her on-screen appearances, according to IMDb.
- Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter” (1992) – A sequel to “A Woman Scorned”, this film continues her portrayal of Betty Broderick’s life after her notorious crime.
- A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992) – In this movie, which was based on true events, Baxter plays “Betty Broderick”, whose unravelling marriage leads to a shocking act of violence.
- Darkness Before Dawn (1993) – Baxter portrayed the character “Mary Ann Guard”.
- My Breast (1994) – Baxter portrayed “Joyce Wadler”, a journalist who documents her journey battling breast cancer, providing a raw and honest account.
- Betrayed: A Story of Three Women (1995): Baxter portrayed the character “Amanda Nelson”.
- A Mother’s Fight for Justice (2001) – In this drama, Baxter portrayed the character “Terry Stone”, who fights the legal system to prove her son’s innocence after he’s wrongly accused of a crime.
- Half & Half (2002) – In this comedy TV Series, Baxter took on the role of “Joan Tyrell”.
- Angel in the Family (2004) – Baxter played the character “Lorraine” in the fantasy drama.
Meredith Baxter’s net worth
Baxter has a net worth of $7 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. She earns her fortune from her job as an actress.
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Meredith Baxter’s family
Baxter’s parents – radio broadcaster Tom Baxter and renowned actress, director and producer Whitney Blake – divorced in 1953. Following their divorce, Baxter’s mother raised her in Pasadena together with her two brothers, Richard (born 1944) and Brian (born 1946).
Baxter has been married four times, giving birth to five kids overall.
Her first marriage, which lasted from 1966 until 1971, was to Robert Lewis Bush. She gave birth to Theodore Justin “Ted” Bush and Eva Whitney Bush.
Her second husband, David Birney, was her spouse from 1974 until 1989. Together, Kathleen Jeanne “Kate” Birney and twins Mollie Elizabeth and Peter David Edwin Birney were the three children from the marriage.
Michael Blodgett, with whom she had a third marriage, was her spouse from 1995 until 2000.
Her fourth marriage, which is the one she is now in, is to Nancy Locke. The duo got married in 2013. In 2009, Baxter came out as a lesbian and spoke frankly about her sexual preferences. In interviews with Today and the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ, she made this admission and said that accepting her sexual orientation had made it easier for her to understand why some of her earlier relationships with males had not worked out.
Meredith Baxter’s age
Baxter was born on June 21, 1947. She is currently 76 years old.
Meredith Baxter now
Baxter is currently happily married to Nancy Locke and has been seen on several occasions with her spouse. In late 2022, Baxter and her spouse, Locke were spotted in Montecito, California holding hands and rocking almost matching outfits as they went on a shopping date.
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