The cherished actress Kirstie Alley passed away in 2022 at the age of 71. On her Instagram page, her family heartbrokenly announced that she had lost her battle with cancer.
In a lengthy statement, Kirstie’s family gave additional facts about her final hours, which was really upsetting to read.
In her career, Kirstie Alley won two Emmy Awards and gained notoriety for her role on the TV show Cheers. She starred in several hit films and was a favourite on Dancing With the Stars.
Her
“The truth of how I escaped Kansas is being high,” she remarked, reflecting on her journey. I was high as hell. If I hadn’t been sedated, my dream would have never come true.
Despite doubts and challenges, she moved to California with the intention of becoming an actress. She started out as an interior decorator, but she overcame people’s doubts about her goals by becoming successful in Hollywood.
In 1981, after a trying time when she dabbled in drugs and hung around with the wrong set, something horrible happened. Serious injuries were sustained when an inebriated driver struck her parents’ car. Her mother passed away, and her father suffered serious injuries. For Kirstie, this was a very difficult period.
Years after the disaster, the person responsible wanted to apologise to Kirstie. Even though the inebriated driver was aware of Kirstie’s reluctance to engage in conversation, they still felt compelled to express their genuine regret.
After Kirstie’s mother passed away, her life was altered. She went to rehab, joined The Church of Scientology, and stopped using drugs. In 1982, she was cast in her first noteworthy acting job. She became well-known for her portrayal of Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
A few years later, she portrayed Gloria Steinem in the television movie A Bunny’s Tale. She played a small part in the 1985 miniseries North and South, which starred the well-known Patrick Swayze.
After a few tiny roles, Kirstie’s big break came when she was chosen to play Rebecca Howe on the TV show Cheers in 1987. For the role, she won two awards: a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
After leaving Cheers in 1993, she succeeded in a number of significant endeavours. She played lead roles in TV shows like The Last Don and Veronica’s Closet. For the movie David’s Mother, she won an additional Emmy.
Her parts in Drop Dead Gorgeous and Look Who’s Talking were equally popular. In 2012, she had an appearance on the television show Dancing with the Stars, where she revealed a new side of herself. She even came back for an All-Star match.
Kirstie was happy in her personal life with her second husband, Parker Stevenson. They adopted a son, William, and a daughter, Lillie, after getting married in 1983. Unfortunately, they separated in 1997.
In 2017, Kirstie received a Lyme disease diagnosis. She was honest when she said that she gained a lot of weight as a result of the bacterial infection that sent her to the hospital.
She explained, “If I made cookies, I wouldn’t eat two.” I could eat twelve cookies! And I really went crazy. I started drinking twelve grape drinks a day. I was consuming copious amounts of sugar!
But Kirstie had struggled with her weight long before that. She mentioned gaining between forty and fifty pounds during a 2004 summer. She admitted, “To be honest, I didn’t realise how fat I was until I saw it in the tabloids.” I said, “Damn, girl, you’re fat.”
Maybe that was the catalyst for her comedy series Fat Actress, which aired a year after she revealed her weight gain. The lead actress Kirstie’s life was a loose inspiration for the show. The focus of the story was a Hollywood actress whose weight loss was extensively covered by tabloids.
Brenda Hampton, one of the co-creators, said in 2004 that she believed many women across the country could relate to Kirstie’s problems. Being in the spotlight increases the difficulty of tasks like finding love and reducing weight, which may be challenging for anyone.
Kirstie decided to enlist the help of Jenny Craig, a regimen for weight loss. She steadily lost weight and spent three years trying to find her balance. As a result of the diet, she shed a significant 75 pounds, and she began speaking for Jenny Craig in 2007.
When Kirstie joined Dancing With The Stars in 2011, she gained weight again, reaching 230 pounds at the start of the season. But by the time the competition was over, she had lost over a hundred pounds. She worked really hard to become successful on the dance floor.
However, several of the show’s fans criticised her. Some even speculated that she may have starved herself or had weight-loss surgery. Kirstie responded on Twitter, saying, “NO flippin lasers, NO surgery, NO starvation, NO barfing.” Oh my goodness, organic food, dancing.
Her last role was as a star in the 2020 television movie You Can’t Take My Daughter.
Kirstie Alley’s family tragically announced on Monday, December 5, 2022, that she had died of cancer at the age of 71. They said that she battled colon cancer for a short while and that it was only discovered recently.
The family expressed their gratitude to everyone for their support and acknowledged their loss in a statement. Kirstie was praised for being an amazing mother and grandmother, and her love of life, family, and animals was highlighted. They commended the medical personnel at Moffitt Cancer Centre for their care and asked to remain anonymous during this difficult time.
Kirstie’s ex-husband Parker Stevenson sent a heartfelt tribute to her on Instagram, expressing gratitude for their shared memories and their beautiful family. He ended by saying that he would miss Kirstie.
In her later years, Alley, a Scientologist, stayed inside her Clearwater, Florida, home.
Honouring John Travolta: Reaching Out
“She’s moved on from Los Angeles,” a source told OK Magazine. “She has happily disappeared into a quiet life in Clearwater, where she is also able to freely express her beliefs.”
Another insider said, “Kirstie hasn’t worked in over a year, and she’s fine with that.” “She has no plans to return to Hollywood.”
After learning about Alley’s passing, a lot of people paid their respects to her on social media. Among those who did was John Travolta, who costarred with Alley in the film Look Who’s Talking (1989) and its two sequels.
2020 saw the actor from Grease lose his wife, Kelly Preston, to cancer. Kelly Preston, Travolta’s wife, died of cancer in July 2020 at the age of 57.
Travolta wrote, “I love you, Kirstie,” on Instagram. “I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.”
The two had an incredible relationship over the years. Alley said that she had previously fallen in love with John Travolta during her stint on Celebrity Big Brother.
“I almost left and married John. He was a good fit for marriage,” she said. “I love him, and I always will,” she said to herself. And I would have gone and married him if I hadn’t already been married. Besides, I would have been in the air.
In 2018, Kirstie talked more about her relationship with John. She asserted that they had fallen in love and that the feeling was mutual. Still, she acknowledged that turning down the romantic proposition was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do. Their connection was neither romantic nor sexual because she made it obvious that she didn’t want to cheat on her husband.
Her friend and former coworker Jamie Lee Curtis from the 2016 horror series Scream Queens shared her thoughts on social media as well. Curtis remembered Kirstie as a great comedy partner on the programme and a compassionate person in real life. She described how Kirstie helped her choose onesies to give to her family as Christmas gifts. Even if they didn’t always agree, Curtis acknowledged that they had a connection and mutual respect. The news broke her heart.