Nancy Locke, Meredith Baxter's Longtime Partner

Meredith Baxter has been with Nancy Locke for four years.

Family Ties' Meredith Baxter comes out on Today.

We reported early Wednesday that Meredith Baxter courageously faced the public via the Today show to reveal that seven years ago, she discovered she was a lesbian. "...It was a later-in-life recognition," Baxter told Matt Lauer. "This has only been for the past seven years." And by the looks of hot online searches by Wednesday afternoon, the world is curious to know more about her private life -- particularly her partner Nancy Locke.

It sounds as though Baxter, 62, was in a relationship with a female before Nancy Locke, 54, as Baxter said her discovery about her sexuality seven years ago was due to an encounter with a specific person. Nancy Locke and Meredith Baxter, however, have been in a relationship for the past four years.

Nancy Locke is a building contractor in Los Angeles whom Meredith Baxter met through friends. Baxter shared that it took her a bit of time to reach a level of comfort with their relationship going public because Nancy Locke had been living openly gay for some time. Baxter has said she didn't want Locke's sexuality to be shoved "back into secrecy," but that they live together and that her happy relationship with Locke sheds a good deal of light on why her three marriages to men didn't work. "I got involved with someone I never expected to get involved with," Baxter said. Prior to her relationship with Nancy Locke, Baxter explained, "I was involved with people who made me think they're the problem. It never occurred to me, that it was me."

Meredith Baxter and Nancy Locke were photographed together earlier this year on a lesbian cruise with 1,200 other women. The National Enquirer and Perez Hilton are said to have gotten hold of the information, and they threatened to publish it. Meredith Baxter responded by outing herself so that the public could hear the news directly from her, instead of the message being misconstrued by the media.

Baxter also explained that while much of the public must be surprised to learn her news, her children and stepfather have been incredibly supportive. She added that she and Nancy Locke live a very openly gay life and that anyone who knows them knows their situation.

Our friends at PopEater have video of Meredith Baxter's interview on Today.