Beloved actress Kirstie Alley passed away at the age of 71 in 2022. Her family shared the sad news on her Instagram page, revealing that she lost her battle with cancer.
In a detailed statement, her family shared more information about Kirstie’s final hours, and it was a very sad read.
Kirstie Alley became famous for her role on the TV show Cheers and won two Emmy Awards during her career. She also starred in many successful movies and was a favorite on Dancing With The Stars.
Her life had its ups and downs. Born on January 12, 1951, in Wichita, Kansas, she faced challenges but overcame them. She graduated from Wichita Southeast High School and studied drama at Kansas State and Kansas Universities. Kirstie struggled with drugs in her early days but managed to leave Kansas for California, pursuing her dream of becoming an actress.
Reflecting on her journey, she said, “The truth of how I escaped Kansas is being high. I was drugged out of my mind… If I hadn’t been drugged out, I would never have been able to realize my dream.”
Despite facing skepticism and challenges, she moved to California to pursue acting. Initially working as an interior decorator, she eventually found success in Hollywood, overcoming the doubts people had about her ambitions.
After going through a tough time where she tried different drugs and had the wrong people around her, something really sad happened in 1981. A drunk driver crashed into her parents’ car, and it caused a lot of pain. Her mom died, and her dad got seriously hurt. This was a really hard moment for Kirstie.
Years later, the person who caused the accident wanted to talk to Kirstie and say sorry. Even though the drunk driver understood why Kirstie didn’t want to talk, they still wished they could apologize and express how truly sorry they were.
Losing her mom made Kirstie change her life. She stopped using drugs, went to rehab, and also joined The Church of Scientology. In 1982, she got her first big acting roles. She played Saavik in the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which made her famous.
A few years later, she acted as Gloria Steinem in a TV movie called A Bunny’s Tale. In 1985, she had a small part in the North and South miniseries, where she starred alongside the famous Patrick Swayze.
After some smaller roles, Kirstie got a big break in 1987 when she played Rebecca Howe in the TV show Cheers. This role made her really famous and earned her awards like the Golden Globe and Emmy.
After leaving Cheers in 1993, she continued to do well in big projects. She won another Emmy for a TV movie called David’s Mother and appeared in shows like Veronica’s Closet and The Last Don.
People also loved her in movies like Look Who’s Talking and Drop Dead Gorgeous. In 2012, she showed a different side by dancing in the TV show Dancing with the Stars and even came back for an All-Star competition.
In her personal life, Kirstie found happiness with her second husband, Parker Stevenson. They got married in 1983 and adopted a son named William and a daughter named Lillie. Sadly, they divorced in 1997.
In 2017, Kirstie got diagnosed with Lyme disease. She talked openly about it, sharing that she gained a lot of weight because of the illness caused by a bacteria called borrelia.
She explained, “If I made cookies, I wouldn’t eat two cookies. I would eat 12 cookies! And I really went off the rails… I started drinking 12 grape sodas a day. I was consuming massive amounts of sugar!”
But Kirstie had struggled with her weight even before that. In 2004, she talked about gaining around 40 or 50 pounds over one summer. She admitted, “Honestly, I didn’t know how fat I was until I saw it in the tabloids. I went, ‘Damn, girl, you’re fat!’”
Maybe that experience inspired her comedy series, Fat Actress, which premiered a year after she talked about her weight gain. Kirstie played the lead role, and the show was kind of based on her life. It focused on an actress in Hollywood whose weight loss was a big topic in the tabloids.
In 2004, Brenda Hampton, the co-creator, said that she believed many women across the country would relate to Kirstie’s struggles. Losing weight and finding love can be hard for anyone, and it becomes even more challenging when you’re in the public eye.
Kirstie decided to get help from a weight-loss program called Jenny Craig. For three years, she worked on finding a balance and steadily lost weight. Thanks to the program, she lost a significant 75 pounds and became a spokesperson for Jenny Craig until 2007.
When she joined Dancing With The Stars in 2011, Kirstie had gained weight again, weighing 230 pounds when the show started. But by the end of the competition, she had lost over 100 pounds. She worked really hard to succeed on the dance floor.
However, some people watching the show criticized her. Some even speculated that she had surgery or starved herself to get in shape. Kirstie responded on Twitter, saying, “NO surgery, NO flippin lasers, NO barfing, NO starving… Jeez… my products, organic food, dance.”
Her last appearance in a production was in 2020 when she starred in the television movie called You Can’t Take My Daughter.
On Monday, December 5, 2022, Kirstie Alley’s family shared the sad news that she passed away at the age of 71 due to cancer. They mentioned that her cancer was discovered only recently, and she had a short battle against colon cancer.
