The 71-year-old television and movie star Kirstie Alley, best known for her work on Cheers, Veronica’s Closet, and Look Who’s Talking, has passed away.
In a statement posted to her social media account on Monday night, Alley’s children, William “True” Stevenson and Lillie Price Stevenson, confirmed that she had passed away. Her manager independently confirmed her death as well.
According to her family, Alley just received a cancer diagnosis and was receiving treatment at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida.
“To all of our friends, near and distant, anywhere in the world… We regret to inform you that our extraordinary, courageous, and loving mother passed away after a battle with cancer, which was only recently discovered. She fought valiantly while surrounded by her closest family members, leaving us with no doubt about her unending love of life and whatever adventures lie ahead. She was a legendary actress, but she was an even better mother and grandmother.
“We appreciate the excellent treatment provided by the Moffitt Cancer Center’s staff of doctors and nurses. We are encouraged to live life to the fullest just as our mother did by her unmatched zeal and passion for life, her children, grandchildren, and numerous animals, in addition to her unending joy of creating. We appreciate your prayers and support, and we ask that you respect our privacy during this trying time.
“I am so grateful for our years together, and for the two incredibly beautiful children and now grandchildren that we have,” wrote Parker Stevenson, Alley’s ex-husband, in a letter. We will miss you.
“I did something I hardly ever do today when flying. Ted Danson, who starred opposite Ally in Cheers as Sam Malone, admitted to watching an old episode of the show to Deadline. It was the scene in which Kirstie is repeatedly asked to say yes to Tom Berenger’s marriage proposal, but she refuses. Kirstie performed brilliantly. Her portrayal of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown was both heartbreaking and hilarious. When she filmed that scene 30 years ago, she made me laugh, and she still makes me laugh today. I learned that Kirstie had passed away as I stepped off the plane. She always made me laugh, and I’m both incredibly sad and appreciative of that. To her children, I send my love. They are well aware that their mother had a pure heart. She will be missed.”
I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her, according to Kelsey Grammer, who played Frasier Crane on the television show Cheers.
Alley’s Look Who’s Talking co-star John Travolta also paid respect. “My relationship with Kirstie was one of the most unique ones I’ve ever had. “Kirstie, I love you,” he wrote. “I’m confident that we’ll cross paths again.”
1951-born in Kansas, Rebecca Howe joined the cast of the comedy Cheers in 1987, marking the beginning of Alley’s breakthrough career. Shelley Long decided to leave the show, leaving Glen and Les Charles scrambling to find a new female lead. Alley was cast as a result. Alley was chosen by the Charles brothers, who were looking for an unknown, after Carl Reiner, who had directed her in the 1987 movie Summer School, personally endorsed her comedic abilities. For her work on the program, Alley would receive a Golden Globe and an Emmy award.
In 1994, she received a second Emmy for her portrayal of a mother of an autistic child in the television movie David’s Mother.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Alley acted in a number of movies, such as Look Who’s Talking and Look Who’s Talking Too, Summer School, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. After Cheers, she primarily acted in comedic roles on television, such as Veronica’s Closet’s title character, the brief-lived sitcom Kirstie, and the horror-comedy anthology series Scream Queens.
Alley created and starred in the show Fat Actress, playing a fictionalised version of herself as a fat actor trying to find success in Hollywood while fending off predatory tabloids and attempting to find love, in the early 2000s, amid extensive coverage of her weight in gossip outlets.
Later in life, Alley entered the world of reality television, competing on Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Big Brother UK, and The Masked Singer while chronicling her struggles to shed 75 pounds (34 kg) on the programme Kirstie Alley’s Big Life.
Bob Alley, who shares the same name as Alley’s father, and Alley wed in 1970 after meeting in high school; they later divorced. She wed Stevenson in 1983, and the couple then adopted two kids. They split up in 1997.
While battling a cocaine addiction, Alley joined the Scientology church in 1979. She later credited the organization’s drug rehabilitation programme for helping her maintain her sobriety.
You can be cooking meth and sleeping with hookers, but as long as, apparently, you didn’t vote for Trump… I feel like I’m in The Twilight Zone a bit, Alley, a vocal supporter of former US president Donald Trump since 2016, claimed she had been “blackballed” in Hollywood because of her politics.
She was referred to be “a lovely mama bear” and “a fantastic comic foil” by her Scream Queens co-star Jamie Lee Curtis. We had a mutual respect and connection even though we agreed to disagree on some issues, she continued. “Dark news,”
