Untied Untied

Untied

A Memoir of Family, Fame, and Floundering

    • 4.2 • 194 Ratings
    • $8.99
    • $8.99

Publisher Description

“I remember Sarah asking me, when I’d just begun therapy with her, what I looked for in a man.  After a few moments of silent, tense deliberation I had it.  ‘Hair,’ I blurted. ‘He has to have hair.’”
 
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.

GENRE
Biographies & Memoirs
RELEASED
2011
March 1
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
304
Pages
PUBLISHER
Crown
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
9.5
MB

Customer Reviews

Erxn ,

Untied

I was surprised at how much I thoroughly enjoyed reading this (biography is kind of a new genre for me); Meredith Baxter is as likable in print as she is on screen -- i.e., very. David Birney, on the other hand: not so much. Even as a Dartmouth student in the 1980s, when he sometimes would be trotted out to us as a celebrity alum, I never could warm to him. Now I know why.

Supriya205 ,

Great!

Hi,

Great read! I always find autobiographies interesting and something to learn from. I loved how Meredith gave historical detail to California’s past. Also, I realized it’s hugely possible that Meredith suffers from undiagnosed ADD or ADHD. Thank you to Meredith for sharing her story with the world.

Thank you,
Supriya Konkol

Laney Baltazar ,

Untied

What a wonderful story. I can relate to some of the book to my life. I admire Meridith for writing the book.

More Books Like This

Learning to Live Out Loud Learning to Live Out Loud
2011
Here's the Story Here's the Story
2009
Call Me Anna Call Me Anna
1987
Prairie Tale Prairie Tale
2009
Not that Kinda Girl Not that Kinda Girl
2011
Breathing Out Breathing Out
2007

More Books by Meredith Baxter

Customers Also Bought

Symptoms of Withdrawal Symptoms of Withdrawal
2009
Lucky Me Lucky Me
2013
More Than Love More Than Love
2020
Apparently There Were Complaints Apparently There Were Complaints
2021
What Falls Away What Falls Away
1997
Get Happy Get Happy
2000