More Than That Mom: Meredith Baxter, 'Untied'

Thanks to “Family Ties,” you’re a TV mom icon. What’s that like?
I don’t relate. I went to work and went home. A lot of people say, “I wish you’d been my mom,” and I understand that. I would have liked to have been my mom. People are dying to see healthy relationships, and the Keatons had a very loving relationship.

You had a very challenging relationship with your own mother.
I learned nothing about mothering from my mother, except maybe what not to do. I didn’t have much to fight against.

You’ve dealt with two bad marriages, breast cancer and alcoholism. What do you hope your daughters have learned from your experiences?
To have a strong sense of self-esteem, which I never had. I want them to speak the truth. It’s not that they are lying. It’s more about don’t lie to yourself. I made up stories so I could continue in the same direction I was going. I had an agenda. I wanted to be taken care of.

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Over your career, you had a pretty long reign as something of a TV movie queen. Did you ever feel like your own life was a TV movie?
No. But many of the movies did seem to have resonance with my life. I played Betty Broderick [in “A Woman Scorned"], a woman filled with anger. I was only three years out of my divorce at that time with David [Birney]. In the movie, there’s this big moment when she drives up over the front lawn of her husband’s house and drives into the house. I had bought this huge Mercedes because I thought, “This will drive over David’s Porsche.” It was just craziness.

You came out in a very public way. How did that work out with your friends and family?
There were people there who I never thought would respond lovingly. But they so quickly swooped in and helped me.

How big of a role does acting play in your life these days?
There aren’t that many jobs out there for a 63-year-old woman. When a role comes up, all of us are begging to be considered.

Your partner, Nancy, is a general contractor. Have you picked up any DIY skills from her?
Let me ask her. She says no. I know how to hold the ladder.

But you must have the best-looking house on the block, right?
Oh, we do.

Written by Express contributor Beth Luberecki
Photo courtesy Crown Archetype

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