Meredith Baxter who starred in the TV series Family Ties came out on NBC's Today Show to publically declare she is a later in life lesbian.

She described the awakening she had after she met somebody seven years ago.

I'm a lesbian, and it was a later in life recognition of that fact, Baxter told Today's show Matt Lauer on Wednesday.

Baxter's declaration on national TV came a day after celebrities' blogger Perez Hilton published pictures of Baxter and her girlfriend Nancy hugging.

Baxter starred as a hippie mom for seven seasons in the popular 1980's series. She starred the television sitcom along Michael J. Fox who played her son. In real life, she was married three times and has five children.

She has now a skin care line now and a breast cancer fund.