Kirstie Alley, best known for her role as Rebecca Howe on the hit NBC sitcom “Cheers,” has died of cancer. She was 71 years old.
Elle’s children True and Lily Parker shared the news in a statement posted on their late mother’s Instagram on Monday. Her manager Donovan Daughtry also confirmed her death to USA Today.
“We are saddened to announce that our incredible, fierce, and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, which was recently diagnosed,” the statement read. Elle had not previously disclosed her cancer diagnosis.
— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) December 6, 2022
“She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with the never-ending joy of her life and the certainty of whatever adventures lay ahead,” her children said. “As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more wonderful mother and grandmother.”
Alley’s ex-husband Parker Stevenson wrote on Instagram 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. With love,
Parker
View this post on Instagram
Alley’s career began when she starred opposite Ted Danson in the beloved NBC sitcom “Cheers” about a Boston bar from 1987 to 1993. She joined the show at the height of its popularity, playing Rebecca Howe, the romantic foil to Ted Danson’s Sam Malone, following the departure of original star Shelley Long.
Alley’s “Cheers” co-star Kelsey Grammer said in a statement to USA Today that she “always believes that grieving is a personal matter for a public figure, but I will say that I love her.”
In 1991, Alley won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role. She would pick up a second Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Mini-Series or Television Movie in 1993 for playing the title role in the CBS TV movie “David’s Mother.”
From 1997 to 2000, she played the title role of a fashion mogul in the NBC comedy “Veronica’s Closet,” by the creators of “Friends.”
Read More | Everything you need to know about ‘Willow’ on Disney Plus
She starred opposite John Travolta in “Look Who’s Talking” in 1989. Travolta paid tribute to Alley on Instagram on Monday, calling their relationship one of the “most special” he’s “ever had”.
He wrote, “I love you, Kirstie.” “I know we will see each other again.”
View this post on Instagram
The 1989 comedy, in which she played the mother of a child whose innermost thoughts were voiced by Bruce Willis, gave her career a major boost. The success of “Look Who’s Talking” spawned a sequel, “Look Who’s Talking Two” in 1990, and a third installment, “Look Who’s Talking Now” in 1993.
Kirstie Alley also played a fictional version of herself in the 2005 Showtime series “Fat Actress”, a show that mocked her public and media treatment of her weight gain and loss.
She appeared in the 2010 A&E reality series “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life” with the same subject, describing her attempts to lose weight and start a weight loss program while working as a single mother in an unconventional household. was gone, including pet lemurs.
Alley said she agreed to do the show partly because of misinformation about her, which had become a tabloid staple.
“You can say anything bad about me, they say,” Alley told The Associated Press at the time. “I never collapsed, fainted, passed out. In fact, whatever they said, I never had. The only truth is that I got fat.”
In recent years she has appeared on several other reality shows, including second place on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” in 2011. She competed in Fox’s “The Masked Singer” earlier this year wearing a baby mammoth costume.
She also appeared in Ryan Murphy’s black comedy Fox series “Scream Queens” in 2015–16.
In 2020, Alley was criticized for her decision to support US President Donald Trump for re-election. At the time, she frequently posted on social media about his conservative views and criticized then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden. “He gets things done quickly and he will turn the economy around quickly” Alley tweeted. She was also vocal about CNN’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming that the cable network was leading viewers to “live in terror.”
Kirstie Alley was married to her high school sweetheart from 1970 to 1977 and to actor Parker Stevenson from 1983 to 1997.
She told the AP in 2010 that if she remarried, “I would leave the guy within 24 hours because I’m sure he wouldn’t tell me anything.”
Alley’s children Lillie and William also thanked “the incredible team of doctors and nurses at the Moffitt Cancer Center for their care.
