In the Hallmark Channel original movie “Bound By a Secret,” premiering at 9 p. m. Saturday, Meredith Baxter plays Ida, whose best friend, a famous soap actress played by Lesley Ann Warren, returns to their hometown when she discovers that she will soon succumb to cancer. Although Baxter plays the role of loving and supportive friend, she can easily identify with both characters.

“I am a breast cancer survivor, and I’ve been speaking around the country about my experiences for about six years now,” Baxter says. “It’s very gratifying to open up to other survivors.”

But it wasn’t always so easy for the “Family Ties” actress to speak freely about the affliction. It was a slow process that was helped by, of all things, dry skin. In 1997, she launched Meredith Baxter Simple Works, a line of skin care products created initially to correct her own dry skin problem.

But response from family and friends was so great that she decided to take it to the public. She also founded The Meredith Baxter Fund for Breast Cancer Research, which supports vital breast cancer programs throughout the United States. Baxter announced that a portion of all profits from Simple Works would go to the foundation.

“I would be at trade shows to present Simple Works and women—some of them still wearing head scarves because of radiation treatment — would see the pink ribbon and want to talk to me,” she explains. “My first reaction was to close down and not want to talk, but I began to open up, slowly. We’d talk and cry and share stories and it helped me get rid of that shame.

In addition to understanding the mind-set of the patient, Baxter also had a personal experience that allowed her to connect to her character in the film, who watches her dear friend slip away. “My mother died of esophageal cancer about seven, eight years ago,” Baxter recalls. “And there was one time when she looked at me — I didn’t know she was dying at that point — but she looked at me in a way that was like her eyes were just taking in everything on my face, just making up for lost time.

“In retrospect, it was the sweetest thing. Of course, at the time, because I didn’t know what she was going through, I thought, ‘Gee, she’s looking at me like she’s never going to see me again!’ Well, she died four months later — and I get it. It’s the personal connection. There cannot be anything else.”

Today, Baxter is stronger for having lived through such trials, and is a sought-after public speaker on surviving the experiences of breast cancer, substance abuse and overcoming domestic violence.

In addition to her work on behalf of breast cancer awareness, Baxter is a women’s rights and anti-abuse activist and is a member of Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America. For her work on the TV movie “My Breast,” she received a special award for public awareness from the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

“We can be a lifeline for each other,” she says of fellow breast cancer survivors, who she encourages to banish the shame and fear and arm themselves with knowledge, a sense of humor and a proactive attitude.