Actress comes out

The woman who spent the ‘80s playing Michael J Fox’s mother has come out as a lesbian.

Meredith Baxter, who played mother Elyse Keaton on the 1980s TV series Family Ties, came out during an interview with the NBC’s today show.

“I am a lesbian, and it was a later-in-life recognition of that fact,” the 62-year-old actress said before revealing she had been in a relationship for the last four years.

“Some people are saying, were you living a lie? And, you know, the truth is, not at all. This has only been in the past seven years,” she said.

“I got involved with someone I never expected to get involved with, and it was that kind of awakening.

“I never fought it because it was like, oh, I understand why I had the issues I had early in life. I had a great deal of difficulty connecting with men in relationships.”

Baxter, who was married three times, said she was honest about her sexuality with her five children almost immediately.