“Family Ties” star Meredith Baxter has finally came out of the closet and openly admitted she is gay, a lesbian mom, in an exclusive interview for The Advocate followed by a special appearance on The Today Show on Wednesday (December 2) – watch video below.

Meredith, who was married three times and has five children, started dating women seven years ago and has been in a stable relationship with a 54 year-old contractor, Nancy Locke (picture below), for the past four years.

When did you realize you were gay?
Thirteen years ago I had a short-term affair with somebody — a woman — who I just cared for tremendously as a person, [I] was not really attracted to her, but the best way to describe it, [a romance] seemed like the next natural step in our relationship just because I cared about her a lot. Not once — it’s probably hard to imagine — but not once did it occur to me that I was a lesbian. Not once. I just thought, OK, I don’t think so, and went off and got married again for a short period of time. And a couple years after that, I entered my next foray into being with a woman, and the penny dropped at that point…

When Prop. 8 was happening, did you consider coming out then?
No, no, that would have seemed opportunistic. I didn’t see the point in that. I may be wrong, but that’s where I was at that point. It was certainly just heartbreaking to see that go down — I didn’t expect that at all. I really thought we were going to be OK.

Read Complete Interview At The Advocate>>

Before a tabloid could out her and her partner, Meredith decided it was finally time to reveal her secret by her terms and her words. Yes, she is gay! So what? The 62 year-old actress talked to her children and they understood from the beginning that all that matter is her happiness.

Meredith Baxter Photos + Today Show Video Below

Meredith Baxter Lesbian Photos

Meredith Baxter Today Show Video