Meredith Baxter Called Marriage To Late Ex-Husband David Birney A ‘Reign Of Terror’

Aug 18, 2022

David Birney’s most renowned work includes his role as Dr. Ben Samuels in the TV show set in a teaching hospital “St. Elsewhere” and “Bridget Loves Bernie,” in which he starred with Meredith Baxter. He would go on to marry Baxter after the show ended, but they would divorce 15 years later. In 2011, Baxter accused him of being abusive, allegations he denied. Despite the hostility that remained after their divorce, when Birney passed away on Apr. 27, 2022, Baxter still had some kind words to offer.

Birney was born on Apr. 23, 1939, in Washington, D.C. His father worked for the FBI, while his mother was a housewife who later became a real estate agent. He flourished in school and was accepted into the prestigious Dartmouth University, where he graduated with a degree in English literature. He pursued a master’s in theater at the University of California before jumping into the entertainment industry.

Birney started on the stage, most notably in the Broadway production of “Amadeus.” He also appeared in a host of television shows, including “The Love Boat,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Cannon,” “Glitter,” “Fantasy Island,” “Murder, She Wrote” and the TV adaptation of “Serpico.”

Baxter, meanwhile, had little experience acting before landing the leading lady role in “Bridget Loves Bernie” in 1972. Born on June 21, 1947, in South Pasadena, California, the daughter of actress Whitney Blake and radio announcer Tom Baxter had married young at the age of 19 and shared two children with her first husband, Robert Bush. After “Bridget Loves Bernie” was canceled after one season, Baxter married Birney in 1974. 

Read on to find out how Baxter’s career would soar and what led to her and her husband’s break-up.

After “Bridget Loves Bernie,” Baxter would go on to find fame with her roles in “Family” and as the free-spirited matriarch of the Keaton family in “Family Ties.” She would also grow her own family by having three children with Birney – Kate, Mollie and Peter.

“Family” was widely well-received when it began airing in 1976 and would earn Baxter two Emmy award nominations for her role as Nancy Lawrence Maitland. Among its notable guest stars were Baxter’s husband Birney, her mother Blake, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Keaton, Kim Cattrall, Shelley Long and Henry Fonda. The show ended its run in 1980.

In 1982, Baxter landed the part of Elyse Keaton in “Family Ties.” The show centered on a young Republican, her character’s son, played by Michael J. Fox, as she and her ex-hippie husband, played by Michael Gross, navigated the generational divide in the family to great comic effect. The show’s recipe of “hip parents, square kids” was a hit, and it ran for seven seasons before going off the air in 1989.

But as Baxter’s career advanced, her marriage slowly deteriorated. In her memoir, “Untied: A Memoir of Family, Fame, and Floundering,” Baxter revealed harrowing accounts of mental, verbal and physical abuse by Birney. She recounted that, after their marriage, he had wanted her to take his name, something she was not keen on doing. But he was adamant.

“I told myself it would be a good thing; if it would make David happy, it was a small thing to do. I needed to choose to change it, not because I was bullied. So I went through the legal process of becoming Meredith Baxter-Birney,” she wrote.

She also recounted that Birney had hit her multiple times. 

She recalled that during one incident, “it was so sudden and unexpected, I couldn’t tell you which hand hit me, or even how hard. I do recall thinking, ‘I’d better not get up because he’s going to hit me again.’”

She told the Chicago Tribune in 2011: “In an abusive household no one talks about the abuse – so I wrote about it. David had a rage that would just come down all the time – and you would hear that Porsche drive in and you would dive into action. You’d clean what had to be cleaned and you’d straighten it up ... It felt like a reign of terror.”

In desperation, Baxter turned to alcohol as a salve for her marital problems, particularly in the throes of her and Birney’s bitter divorce and custody battles toward the end of their marriage in 1989. However, Baxter became sober in 1990.

Birney had vehemently denied Baxter’s allegations, saying in March 2011 that the book was “a kind of fairy tale” containing “an appalling abuse of the truth.”

In 1995, Baxter married actor and screenwriter Michael Blodgett, but they divorced in 2000. In 2009, she came out as a lesbian and on Dec. 8, 2013, Baxter married her longtime partner, contractor Nancy Locke. 

Despite the rancor that remained, Baxter put that aside when Birney passed in 2022. Upon learning of his death, she released a statement saying:

“I was very saddened by the death of David Birney. My heart goes out to our children, Kate, Peter and Mollie. David was a dominant influence in their lives and the loss of him will be deeply felt. And I send love and support to Michele Roberge, David’s life partner, who so lovingly cared for him for many many years.”

Did you know that David Birney and Meredith Baxter had been married for 15 years? Or that they had had a tumultuous relationship? Let us know, and pass this on to family and friends who might find this interesting