Kirstie Alley

Early life

Kirstie Alley was born in Wichita, Kansas, the daughter of Lillian Mickie (née Heaton), a homemaker, and Robert Deal Alley, who owned a lumber company. She had two siblings, Colette and Craig. Alley attended Wichita Southeast High School, graduating in 1969. She attended college at Kansas State University in 1969. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue Scientology and work as an interior designer, Alley appeared as a contestant on the popular game show Match Game in 1979 (not during the "Match Game '79" season). She won both rounds winning $500 in the first round and winning $5500 in the second round. She also appeared on the game show Password Plus in 1980. In 1981, a car accident caused by a drunk driver killed her mother and left her father seriously injured. Her father eventually recovered.

Career

Before becoming an actress, Alley was an interior designer, as she announced during her appearance as a contestant on the game show Match Game and Password Plus. She made her movie debut in 1982 in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, playing the Vulcan Starfleet officer Lieutenant Saavik, but chose not to reprise that role in the next two sequels, saying later she was offered less money than for II. The following years, she starred in a number of smaller films, include One More Chance, Blind Date and Runaway. In 1985 she played Virgilia Hazard in the ABC miniseries North and South, books I and II.

In 1987, Alley starred alongside Mark Harmon in comedy film Summer School. The film was a box office success, grossing over $35 million in the United States. Later that year she joined the cast of NBC sitcom Cheers, replacing Shelley Long and remaining on the show until its eleventh and final season. In 1989, Alley starred with John Travolta in Look Who's Talking, the film grossed over $295,000,000 worldwide. They then went on to make two other films centered around the same theme, Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now!

Alley had won two Emmy Awards during her career. Her first two nominations for her work on Cheers did not earn her the award, but her third, in 1991, garnered her the statuette for that series. In her speech, she thanked then-husband Parker Stevenson, calling him "the man who has given me the big one for the last eight years". She won her second Emmy for 1994 television film David's Mother. For contributions to the motion picture industry, Alley was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in 1995.

From 1997 to 2000, Alley played the title character in the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet, as well as serving as executive producers on the show. She served as the spokesperson for Pier One from 2000–04 and for Jenny Craig from 2005–08.

TV Land aired a sitcom that centered on Alley as a Broadway star and a new parent. It was titled Kirstie, and reunited her with former Cheers co-star Rhea Perlman and Seinfeld star Michael Richards. The series premiered on December 4, 2013, and ran for one season before it was canceled, five months after ending its freshman run.

Dancing with the Stars

In February 2011, Alley was announced as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Their first dance, a cha-cha-cha, earned them the second-highest score, 23 points of a possible 30. On May 2011, Alley and Chmerkovskiy performed their final dance, also a cha-cha-cha, which earned them a perfect score of 30 out of 30. Alley finished the competition in second place, behind NFL Super Bowl champion Hines Ward. She also took part in the 15th season of Dancing with the Stars for a second chance to win the mirrorball trophy again with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. They were the seventh couple eliminated from the competition.

Personal life

Alley met and dated a distant cousin, Bob Alley, in high school. They married in 1970. Her husband had the same name as her father. They divorced seven years later as their career paths diverged. Alley was married to her second husband, Parker Stevenson, on December 22, 1983. They divorced in 1997. Alley and Stevenson shared custody of their two children, William True and Lillie Price. On June 21, 2016, Alley announced she was a grandmother after her son William welcomed a son of his own, Waylon Tripp Parker.

Alley had a house in Islesboro, Maine.

Weight gain and loss

On September 17, 2012, Alley appeared on The Dr. Oz Show where she admitted that she started gaining weight in late 2003. Alley claimed she spent her whole life eating obsessively without gaining weight, and only noticed a change in her body after she went into early menopause in 1992.

While working as a Jenny Craig spokesperson from 2004 to 2007, Alley lost 75 pounds (34 kg), bringing her weight down to 145 pounds (66 kg).

In May, 2009, Alley 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 September, 2011, Alley announced that she had lost 100 pounds (45 kg) using weight loss products from Organic Liaison, a company she had founded in 2010. In 2012, Alley 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. In 2013, Alley settled the suit, 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, Alley reunited with Jenny Craig, as spokesperson, and 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).

Scientology

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. She continued her Scientology training and, as of 2007, had attained the level of OT VII (Operating Thetan Level 7).

In May 2000, she purchased a 5,200 sq ft (480 m²) 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. In 2007 Alley donated $5 million to the Church.

After fellow actress Leah Remini left the Church of Scientology in 2013, Alley publicly denounced Remini as "a repulsive bigot" and declared her former friend was now "my enemy".

Politics

In August 2015 Alley tweeted that she would not be supporting the Democratic nominee during the 2016 presidential elections, and on April 8, 2016, she tweeted her support for 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." She later tweeted her excitement over his win, unofficially re-endorsing him.