From coke addiction to weight loss lawsuit & Stephen Hawking ‘insult,’ inside Kirstie Alley’s most controversial moments
HER roles in the classic TV comedy Cheers and the Look Who’s Talking movies made her a screen icon.
But Kirstie Alley — who has died at the age of 71 shortly after revealing she had cancer — also courted controversy by supporting Scientology and Donald Trump.
The former cocaine addict, whose weight was known to fluctuate wildly, also had to settle a lawsuit after making misleading claims about her diet range.
Look Who’s Talking co-star John Travolta yesterday led tributes to the actress star, tweeting: “Kirstie was one of the most special relationships I’ve ever had. I love you Kirstie.”
Her Cheers co-star Ted Danson wrote: “I am so sad and so grateful for all the times she made me laugh. I send my love to her children. As they well know, their mother had a heart of gold. I will miss her.”
But there were some who leapt on a previous controversy within minutes of the announcement of her death by her heartbroken family.
In March 2018, on the death of scientist Stephen Hawking, Kirstie caused a backlash with a baffling tweet which read: “You had a good go at it . . . thanks for your input”.
At the time, she was labelled “disrespectful” and “heartless”.
And yesterday, the tweet was recirculating, with one Twitter user writing: “Stephen Hawking meeting Kirstie Alley at the pearly gates all like ‘hey girl, you had a good go at it . . . thanks for your input.’”
The response highlights the ups and downs of the actress — who was described as “incredible, fierce and loving” by her children True, 30, and Lillie, 27.
In a statement yesterday, they revealed that she had died of “recently discovered” cancer, adding: “She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength.
“As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”
Kirstie — best known for her role as ball-breaking bar owner Rebecca Howe in US sitcom Cheers — was born in Wichita, Kansas and married at 19 to childhood sweetheart Bob Alley, who shared the same name as her father.
Soon afterwards, she dropped out of Kansas State University and moved to LA to become an interior designer.
After divorcing Bob in 1977, Kirstie became addicted to cocaine, telling US DJ Howard Stern in an interview that she became instantly hooked after experimenting with a boyfriend.
She said: “I started hanging out with this guy I was sort of madly in love with. He had already done all of his drugs, but he had a lot of druggie friends.
“I had heard that cocaine made you peppy and happy and I was sort of depressed because I had gotten a divorce and wrecked everybody’s lives. So I thought, I’m gonna try this.
“I took one snort of cocaine, and I go, ‘Oh my God! I’m gonna do this every day for the rest of my life!’”
She added that her habit was so bad, she believed she would die of an overdose but claims she was saved by the Church of Scientology.
Her turning point came when she was given founder L. Ron Hubbard’s manual Dianetics by a friend and started reading it on the sofa while consuming a “tray of cocaine.”
After a trip to the controversial organisation’s headquarters in California in 1979, she joined the movement and signed up to their drug rehab programme, Narcanon.
Forty years later, in November 2019, she celebrated her sobriety tweeting a photo of a floral bouquet.
She explained in her post: “I used to be a coke head. I quit drugs in 1979 & vowed to spend the same $ weekly on flowers that I’d spent on drugs. I buy & arrange my own flowers as a gift to MYSELF.
Tragedy struck Kirstie in 1981, when a car crash involving a drunk driver killed her mother and seriously injured her father.
A year later she made her film debut, in Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan.
Rumours of a hook-up with William Shatner were wide of the mark, she later revealed, saying the Captain Kirk star actually hated her acting and hired a tutor to improve it.
Her big break came when she was cast in Cheers in 1987 after original cast member Shelley Long quit.
Kirstie married Baywatch actor Parker Stevenson in 1983 but struggled with fertility.
After a miscarriage, the couple adopted William — known as True — in 1992 and Lillie three years later.
While the actress remained faithful throughout her 13-year marriage, she later admitted to falling for fellow Scientologist John Travolta.
She called her co-star in 1989’s Look Who’s Talking and two sequels the “love of my life” and admitting the decision not to have a fling was “the hardest decision I’ve ever made.”
She said: “I was madly in love with him — we were fun and funny together.
“It wasn’t a sexual relationship because I’m not going to cheat on my husband’.”
During a stint on Celebrity Big Brother, in 2018, she said: “I think I kissed Travolta. I almost ran off and married John. I still love him.
“’If I hadn’t been married I would’ve gone and married him.”
She also told her CBB housemates she “would’ve loved to have an affair with Patrick Swayze” her co-star in the 1985 miniseries North And South, admitting she kissed the late star.
Her marriage broke down in 1996, although the couple remained friends.
Yesterday Parker posted a tribute on Facebook, saying: “I am so grateful for our years together, and for the two incredibly beautiful children and now grandchildren that we have. You will be missed.”
I was madly in love with Travolta – we were fun and funny together. I think I kissed him. I almost ran off and married John. I still love him. If I hadn’t been married I would have and married him.
Kirstie Alley
Kirstie — who was briefly engaged to actor James Wilder after the split — said in 2010 she would never marry again, adding: “I’d leave the guy within 24 hours because I’m sure he’d tell me not to do something.”
The star’s comic turn in Cheers, which won her a 1991 Emmy Award and a Golden Globe, led to the sitcom Veronica’s Closet, which ran from 1997 to 2000, and the short-lived comedy Kirstie.
But perhaps the most personal project was the 2005 series Fat Actress, which she wrote and starred in, and which touched on her own weight battle.
A self-confessed foodie who loved burgers and biscuits, she began piling on the pounds after hitting the menopause at 52 and ballooned to more than 16st.
Working with diet coach Jenny Craig, she lost 5st 5lb through healthy eating and exercise.
In 2006, she flaunted her weight loss in a red bikini on on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
But three years later she had gained 6st, weighing in 16st 6lb
Kirstie admitted: “Food is one of the things where I can go sort of wild.”
She then shed an amazing 7st while competing in Dancing With The Stars in 2011 — but landed herself in hot water by claiming her trim figure was down to products from her Organic Liaison brand, founded the year before.
A class action suit was brought against her for false advertising, with lawyers claiming her daily training for the show was behind the weight loss, rather than the diet range.
Kirstie settled the action by removing the words “proven products” from the packaging and paying a £105,000 settlement.
She remained committed to Scientology throughout her adult life, buying a 21-room waterfront mansion from Lisa Marie Presley in the group’s spiritual home of Clearwater, Florida, for £1.25million in 2000.
Seven years later, she attained the level of exulted status of Operating Thetan Level 7 — after donating more than £4million to the church.
She also became the only Cheers regular to refuse an appearance in spinoff show Frasier, starring Kelsey Grammer, because of Scientology’s rejection of psychiatry.
Further controversy dogged the actress when she endorsed Donald Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 elections because he is “not a politician.”
A devoted mum, Kirstie supported son True when he got engaged at 17 and doted on her three grandchildren — saying: “Being a grandma is in the top three best things that has ever happened to me.”
Her last big acting role was in the 2016 comedy Scream Queens, but she also appeared in the US version of The Masked Singer this April, performing as Baby Mammoth in a giant pink fluffy outfit.
In her final public appearance, a video message to fans recorded in September, she looked healthy and well.
Her death has come as a shock to her many fans and co-stars alike.
Kelsey Grammer said: “I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her.”
Scream Queens co-star Jamie Lee Curtis added that she was “a great comic foil” on the show and “a beautiful mama bear in her very real life”.
She added: “We agreed to disagree about some things but had a mutual respect and connection. Sad news.
It’s a sentiment that many who met the “fierce” and forthright actress will echo.
