Untied

Read Untied Storyline:

Meredith Baxter is a beloved and iconic television actress, most
well-known for her enormously popular role as hippie mom, Elyse Keaton,
on Family Ties. Her warmth, humor, and brilliant smile made her
one of the most popular women on television, with millions of viewers
following her on the small screen each week. Yet her success masked a
tumultuous personal story and a harrowing private life. For the first
time, Baxter is ready to share her incredible highs, (working with
Robert Redford, Doris Day, Lana Turner, and the cast of Family Ties),
and lows (a thorny relationship with her mother, a difficult marriage
to David Birney, a bout with breast cancer), finally revealing the woman
behind the image.From her childhood in Hollywood, growing up the daughter of actress and co-creator of One Day at a Time
Whitney Blake, Baxter became familiar with the ups and downs of show
business from an early age. After wholeheartedly embracing the 60s
counterculture lifestyle, she was forced to rely on her acting skills
after her first divorce left her a 22-year-old single mother of two.
Baxter began her professional career with supporting roles in the
critically panned horror film Ben, and in the political thriller All the President's Men.More
lucrative work soon followed on the small screen. Baxter starred with
actor David Birney as the title characters in controversial sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie.
While the series only lasted a year, her high-profile romance with
Birney lasted 15 volatile and unhappy years. Hiding the worst of her
situation from even those closest to her, Baxter’s career flourished as
her self-esteem and family crumbled. Her successful run as Nancy on Family was followed by her enormously popular role on Family Ties, and dozens of well-received television movies.After
a bitter divorce and custody battle with Birney, Baxter increasingly
relied on alcohol as a refuge, and here speaks candidly of her decision
to take her last drink in 1990. And while another ruinous
divorce to screenwriter Michael Blodgett taxed Baxter’s strength and
confidence, she has emerged from her experiences with the renewed
self-assurance, poise, and understanding that have enabled her to find a
loving, respectful relationship with Nancy Locke, and to speak about it
openly.Told with insight, wit, and disarming frankness, Untied is the eye-opening and inspiring life of an actress, a woman, and a mother who has come into her own.