Kirstie Alley was an American actress best known for her roles in “Cheers” and “Veronica’s Closet”.
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about her life and career.
- Her full name was Kirstie Louise Alley
- She was born on January 12, 1951
- She died on December 5, 2022
- She was an American actress
- Her breakout role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987–1993)
- For the role she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991
- From 1997 to 2000, she starred as the lead in the sitcom Veronica’s Closet
- Earning additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations
- Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Alley appeared in various films
- These include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Summer School (1987), Shoot to Kill (1988), Look Who’s Talking (1989) and its two sequels (1990–1993), Madhouse (1990), Sibling Rivalry (1990), Village of the Damned (1995), It Takes Two (1995), Deconstructing Harry (1997), For Richer or Poorer (1997), and Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
- She won her second Emmy Award in 1994 for the television film David’s Mother
- In 1997, Alley received another Emmy nomination for her work in the crime drama series The Last Don
- In 2005, she played a fictionalized version of herself on Showtime’s Fat Actress
- She later appeared on Kirstie Alley’s Big Life (2010)
- She was a contestant on the 12th season of Dancing with the Stars (2011–2012), finishing in second place
- In 2013, Alley returned to acting with the title role on the sitcom Kirstie
- In 2016, she appeared on the Fox comedy horror series Scream Queens
- In 2018, she was a contestant on the 22nd series of the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother, in which she finished as runner-up
- In 2022, she appeared on The Masked Singer
- Kirstie Alley was born in Wichita, Kansas
- Her parents were Robert Deal Alley, who owned a lumber company, and Lillian Alley
- She had two siblings, Colette and Craig
- Kristie Alley attended Wichita Southeast High School, graduating in 1969
- She attended college at Kansas State University, dropping out after her sophomore year
- After moving to Los Angeles to pursue Scientology and work as an interior designer, Alley appeared as a contestant on the game show Match Game in 1979
- She won both rounds, winning $500 in the first round and $5500 in the second round
- She also appeared on the game show Password Plus in 1980
- On both shows she described her profession as interior designer
- In 1981, an automobile accident involving a drunk driver killed her mother and left her father seriously injured
- Alley was married from 1970 to 1977 to high-school sweetheart Bob Alley, who coincidentally had the same name as her father
- Alley married actor Parker Stevenson on December 22, 1983
- Following a miscarriage, the couple adopted son William “True” one week after his October 5, 1992, birth, and in 1995 adopted daughter Lillie
- The marriage ended in 1997
- In 2016, Alley became a grandmother after her son William had a son of his own
- From 1991 to 2020, Alley had a 21-bedroom summer house in Islesboro, Maine, the Mitchell Cottage, formerly the Islesboro Inn
- While working as a Jenny Craig spokesperson from 2004 to 2007, Alley lost 75 pounds (34 kilograms), bringing her weight down to 145 pounds (66 kg)
- In May 2009, she told People magazine that, after parting ways with Jenny Craig, she gained 83 pounds (38 kg) and weighed as much as 228 pounds (103 kg)
- In March 2010, after gossip blogger Roger Friedman alleged a link between her Organic Liaison weight-loss system and the Church of Scientology
- In September 2011, Alley announced she had lost 100 pounds (45 kg) using weight loss products from Organic Liaison
- In 2012, she faced a class-action lawsuit alleging false advertising; the suit claimed that her weight loss was the result of exercise, including training for the TV show Dancing with the Stars, not Organic Liaison products
- She settled the suit in 2013, agreeing to remove the term “Proven Products” from packaging, issue a disclaimer on the brand’s website that it is a “calorie-based weight-loss product”, and pay a $130,000 settlement
- In April 2014, she resumed a role as a spokesperson with Jenny Craig
- The Organic Liaison product line was acquired by Jenny Craig’s parent company, and subsequently integrated into Jenny Craig’s product line
- In January 2015, Alley claimed that, since starting the Jenny Craig weight-loss program again, she had lost 50 pounds (23 kg)
- Alley was raised as a Methodist, but became a member of the Church of Scientology in 1979
- At the time she became a Scientologist, Alley admitted to having had a cocaine addiction and went through Narconon, a Scientology-affiliated drug treatment program, to end her dependency
- As of 2007, she had attained the level of OT VII (Operating Thetan Level 7)
- In May 2000, she purchased a 5,200 square feet (480 square meters) waterfront mansion from former Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley for $1.5 million
- The house is in Clearwater, Florida, the spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology
- Alley donated $5 million to the Church in 2007
- As a member of the Church of Scientology, Alley reportedly opted to not reprise her role Rebecca Howe on any episode of Frasier
- Because the series was centered on the field of medical psychiatrists
- She was the only former Cheers regular not to do so
- In August 2015, Alley tweeted that she would not be supporting Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, during the 2016 presidential elections
- On April 8, 2016, she tweeted her support for Republicans Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani
- On October 8, 2016, Alley retracted her endorsement of Trump, tweeting, “I hate this election and I’m officially no longer endorsing either candidate”
- In October 2020, she stated she had voted for Trump in 2016 and intended to vote for him again in 2020 because “he’s NOT a politician”
- She also endorsed Republican John James in the 2020 United States Senate election in Michigan
- Alley died on December 5, 2022, following a short battle with cancer at age 71
- Per a statement released by her children, the cancer had only been recently discovered
- Her ex-husband Parker Stevenson, her two children, Look Who’s Talking co-star John Travolta
- Other celebrities posted their condolences on social media
- Her Cheers co-stars Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, and Rhea Perlman also mourned her and released statements saying how much she meant to them
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