Meredith Baxter and David Birney, 1982 Maureen Donaldson/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. In 1976, she was the oldest daughter on Family, playing the role of Nancy Maitland.

Meredith Baxter: Ex-Husband David Birney Hit Me. She recalls in new memoir, "I'd better not get up because he's going to hit me again" By Blaine Zuckerman. Published on March 1, 2011 07:30AM EST.

Meredith Baxter, left, with David Birney in 1972 | CBS via Getty Images. They divorced in 1989, after a marriage that she described in her 2011 book Untied as one filled with fear of “the ...

Meredith Baxter is well-versed in making grand revelations on TV. In December 2009, the “Family Ties” star came out as a lesbian on the “Today” show.On Tuesday, she returned… ...

Actress Meredith Baxter, who played mother Elyse Keaton on 80s TV hit Family Ties, said she was a victim of domestic violence by the hands of her ex-husband David Birney in her new book Untied ...

Meredith Baxter says David Birney used to hit her Published March 1, 2011 | Updated Aug. 26, 2014 "It was so sudden and unexpected, I couldn't tell you which hand hit me, or even how hard.

David Birney thinks ex-wife Meredith Baxter's new memoir belongs in the fiction section. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

The second installment of the Meredith Baxter Birney double-header is ”Inside `Family Ties`: Behind the Scenes of a Hit,” a WTTW-Ch. 11 production that airs at 8 p.m. Monday.

Baxter says Birney both physically and verbally abused her, which he denies. “In an abusive household no one talks about the abuse — so I wrote about it,” she says.

Birney met future wife Meredith Baxter Birney on the 1972 CBS sitcom. American actress Meredith Baxter Birney and her husband, American actor David Birney, in New York City, New York, circa 1985.

Just ask Meredith Baxter, star of "Bridget Loves Birney." In a new memoir, she says David Birney - her co-star in the 1970s sitcom and her real-life husband - struck her more than once.