on the ABC Family/Freeform series Switched at Birth as the widowed mother of Kathryn Kennish (portrayed by Lea Thompson). On August 4, 2014, producers announced that Baxter would be joining The Young and the Restless as Maureen, Nikki Newman's new drinking buddy, a "charming, intelligent, middle-class woman who has always aspired to a more privileged life than she has had". Baxter started appearing on the program on September 8. She also played the mother to "Stich" Raybourne and Kelly Andrews. Personal life Marriages and children Baxter has been married four times and has five children. Robert Lewis Bush (1966–1971, divorce); Children: Theodore Justin "Ted" Bush (born May 10, 1967) and Eva Whitney Bush (born August 6, 1969) David Birney (1974–1989, divorce); Children: Kathleen Jeanne "Kate" Birney (born December 5, 1974), and twins, Mollie Elizabeth Birney and Peter David Edwin Birney (born October 2, 1984) Michael Blodgett (1995–2000, divorce) Nancy Locke (2013–present) On December 2, 2009, she came out as a lesbian during an interview with Matt Lauer on Today, and on the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ 102. Accepting her sexual orientation helped her understand why, in part, previous relationships with men had failed. On March 1, 2011, while promoting a memoir, Baxter alleged that ex-husband David Birney had emotionally and physically abused her. Birney denied the allegations. ABC News reported that: Meredith Baxter says in a new book, Untied, that she was a victim of emotional and physical abuse. Baxter, the actress best known for playing hippie mom Elyse Keaton on the 1980s sitcom Family Ties, said that the abuser was her then-husband David Birney, who denied the allegations. In her memoir, Baxter alleges that Birney hit her more than once. "It was so sudden and unexpected, I couldn't tell you which hand hit me, or even how hard," she writes. "I do recall thinking, 'I'd better not get up because he's going to hit me again.'" She writes that she coped with the marital violence by drinking heavily, but has been sober since 1990 (the year after she and Birney divorced). Regarding the fact that Baxter's marriage to Birney lasted throughout the entire seven seasons that she worked on Family Ties, ABC News reported, Baxter said that her work helped her cope and she did not share her personal story with others. "You learn to compartmentalize," she said on NBC. "When I got to the [television] studio,