Meredith Baxter, the 63-year-old former Family Ties actress who came out two years ago, says discovering his sexuality wasn’t her only struggle. She also had to deal with an abusive husband.
In Baxter’s new book Untied, which hits Tuesday, she claims her second ex-husband David Birney — who co-starred on Bridget Loves Bernie and fathered her three children — beat her. “It was so sudden and unexpected, I couldn’t tell you which hand hit me, or even how hard. I do recall thinking, ‘I’d better not get up because he’s going to hit me again.'” Their 15-year marriage ended in 1989 (some twenty years before she would come out), and it took her a year to become sober — she had turned to booze, she says, to deal with the abuse.
Which sounds horrible. Really! Horrible.
But Meredith is the same person who said she chose not to come out during significant events, like the Prop 8 battle, because that would seem “opportunistic.” Revealing your abusive ex-husband to sell copies of your new book, I suppose, is not.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Spike
Unfortunate. Shock & awe that this is only now being revealed, because she has a book coming out.
alan brickman
For the book deal of course…..so sincere….
missanthrope
Wow queerty, slamming a domestic abuse victim? What’s a matter, did you run out of kittens to put in a blender or puppies to throw down a well?
Jaroslaw
The way I see it, people are free to buy her book or not and anything else just seems unkind for no reason. If she waited to age 61 to come out, she may very well have not been ready to get into the Prop 8 fray. Let’s save our negative energy for people like Mehlman and others who actively harm our community.
Shannon
THAT IS HER FAULT!! SHE was the one in the relationship making millions a year…she could left at anytime….
Soupy
I don’t think that Bernie loved Bridget.
TheRealAdam
@Shannon: You’re right, b!tch got what she deserved.
Jaroslaw
Adman/Shannon – There are many reasons people stay in unhappy marriages. Saying things like “the bitch got what she deserved” simply makes you come off like a mean, immature 12 year old who knows nothing of life. Or maybe you are an immature 12 year old!
Soupy
Bernie beat Bridget.
mike128
Seriously guys? The misogyny needs to stop.
It’s never the victim’s fault when they get beaten. Nobody should beat someone. Is that not obvious to everyone on here?
Melissa
If you’ve never been in an abusive relationship yourself, you have no grounds for placing judgment on her for not leaving. Abuse is intended to control the victim, and batter them down so they cannot do precisely what is best for them, and that is to leave. Getting up and putting one foot in front of the other requires a feeling of empowerment, and that is what the batterer takes away. And, finding help is not that easy, but possible if you know where to look. I’m a victim of abuse myself and it all brought me to God. Good for her for writing about it. Any man that abuses a woman is a coward.