Meredith Baxter Net Worth – 2023

What is the net worth of Meredith Baxter?

Meredith Baxter is an actress and producer with a $7 million net worth. Meredith Baxter is most recognized for her appearances on “Bridget Loves Bernie,” “Family,” and “Family Ties.” A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story, a television film in which she starred, also garnered her praise. Baxter has been on the big screen in films such as “All the President’s Men,” “Bittersweet Love,” and “Paradise, Texas.”

Early Years

Meredith Baxter was born in South Pasadena, California on June 21, 1947 to Tom Baxter, a radio announcer, and Whitney Blake, an actress, producer, and director. She has two brothers called Richard and Brian who are older. Baxter’s parents split in 1953, and she and her brothers were reared by their mother. Baxter attended James Monroe High School as a teenager before transferring to Hollywood High School. During her senior year, she temporarily attended Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Career Beginnings

In 1971, Baxter debuted on television in episodes of “The Young Lawyers,” “The Doris Day Show,” and “The Partridge Family.” In 1972, she appeared on an episode of the legal drama “Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law.”

Television Innovations

“Bridget Loves Bernie,” which aired on CBS from 1972 to 1973, provided Baxter with her breakout role. On the sitcom, she portrayed Bridget Fitzgerald, an Irish Catholic teacher who marries Bernie Steinberg, a Jewish taxi driver portrayed by her future husband David Birney. Baxter then featured in episodes of “Doc Elliot,” “Barnaby Jones,” “Medical Center,” and “Medical Story” as well as the television films “The Invasion of Carol Enders” and “The Cat Creature.” She had appearances in the mid-1970s television films “The Stranger Who Looks Like Me,” “Target Risk,” and “The Night That Panicked America.”

In addition to starring in episodes of “City of Angels,” “Wide World of Mystery,” and “Police Woman” in 1976, Baxter began portraying the lead role of Nancy Lawrence Maitland on the critically acclaimed ABC drama series “Family.” The program ran for five seasons through 1980, and Baxter was nominated for two Emmy Awards. During her tenure on the program, she featured in “The Love Boat,” the NBC miniseries adaption of “Little Women,” and “The Family Man.”

Expanding Television Career

Early in the 1980s, Baxter starred in the miniseries “Beulah Land” and the HBO television adaptation of the play “Vanities.” In 1982, she began playing Elyse Keaton, the matriarch of the Keaton family, on the NBC comedy “Family Ties.” A critical and public success, the series continued for seven seasons through 1989. During this period, Baxter appeared in several television films, such as “The Rape of Richard Beck,” “Kate’s Secret,” “The Long Journey Home,” “The Diaries of Adam and Eve,” and “Winnie.”

Baxter continued to feature in other television films after “Family Ties” concluded. Her filmography includes “The Kissing Place,” “Burning Bridges,” “Bump in the Night,” and “A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story,” for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special. Baxter subsequently appeared in television films such as “Darkness Before Dawn,” “My Breast,” “Betrayed: A Story of Three Women,” and “Dog’s Best Friend,” the majority of which she also executive produced. She starred in the short-lived ABC comedy “The Faculty” and appeared in two episodes of the ABC sitcom “Spin City” during the 1990s. In the 2000s, Baxter continued to be productive on television. The television films “A Christmas Visitor,” “Shadow on the Mesa,” and “Skirtchasers” are among her many credits, as are the series “Brothers & Sisters,” “Cold Case,” “Switched at Birth,” “The Neighbors,” and “Finding Carter.”

Film Industry

Baxter made her feature film debut in the 1972 Jackie Cooper comedy “Stand Up and Be Counted” and also starred in the 1972 horror picture “Ben” as the young protagonist’s mother. Four years later, she portrayed the wife of White House aide Hugh W. Sloan Jr. in “All the President’s Men,” a biographical political drama. In the same year, Baxter participated in the romantic drama “Bittersweet Love” alongside Lana Turner, Celeste Holm, and Robert Lansing.

Baxter returned to the big screen in 2005 as the wife of Timothy Bottoms’ main character in the family drama “Paradise Texas.” In the same year, she also starred in “The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green,” an adaptation of Eric Orner’s LGBT comic strip. Subsequently, Baxter has acted in “The Onion Movie,” “Airline Disaster,” and “Undateable John.”

Personal Life

Baxter has been married many times. Her first marriage was to Robert Lewis Bush in 1966; they had two children, Theodore and Eva, before separating in 1969. Next, in 1974, Baxter wed actor David Birney, who had co-starred in “Bridget Loves Bernie” as her husband. They had three children: Kathleen, identical twins Mollie and Peter, and Peter. In 1989, the couple divorced. From 1995 until 2000, Baxter was married to actor and playwright Michael Blodgett.

Baxter came out as a lesbian in 2009 during an interview with Matt Lauer on “Today.” She had a relationship with Nancy Locke, whom she eventually married in 2013. Baxter made another admission on “Today” in 2011, when she accused her ex-husband Birney of physical and emotional abuse.

Real Estate

Meredith offered her Santa Monica, California house for $6 million in August 2016. In March of 2017, she finally agreed to accept $4.6 million. She probably should have kept the property because its current value is probably closer to $8 million.