How Kirstie Alley rocketed to fame in Cheers and hit stardom with fellow Scientologist John Travolta

Kirstie Alley was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1951, but it wouldn’t be long before she high-tailed it from home and began her journey from the small screen to the silver, and into the hearts of America.

The daughter of a lumberman and one of three kids, Alley moved to Los Angeles after dropping out of college in her sophomore year. While working as an interior designer, she appeared on a series of game shows and for the first time was broadcast into living rooms across the country. It was just the beginning. 

In 1982, just past 30-years-old, Alley landed a role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which was followed by Blind Date in 1984, and then the television series North and South a year later. 

She scored a hit alongside Mark Hamon in the 1987 comedy Summer School, and found herself on the way to stardom the same year after landing the part of Rebecca Howe in the hit television sitcom Cheers.

As Rebecca, the dry and droll-witted manager of the Cheers bar, Alley shone, and took home the 1991 Emmy for actress in a lead role. Accepting that award, Alley’s daring character and sharp sense of humor came to the fore, as she thanked her husband, Parker Stevenson, for giving her ‘the big one for the last eight years.’

Kirstie Alley was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1951, but it wouldn’t be long before she high-tailed it from home and began her journey from the small screen to the silver, and into the hearts of America

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Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe alongside Ted Danson as Same Malone on the set of Cheers

In 1989 her movie career began to soar when she appeared alongside John Travolta in the first Look Who’s Talking film, which grossed nearly $300million and was followed up by a pair of sequels.

She won her second Emmy award in 1994 for David’s Mother, a made-for-television movie in which Alley portrayed a mother caring for an autistic son.

By 1995 she had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as her film and television credits continued to climb, adding a notable performance as the owner of a New York City lingerie company in Veronica’s Closet from 1997 to 2000.

In 2005 she starred in her show Fat Actress, a largely unscripted comedy which explored how her body-image became a centerpiece of her career and tabloids of the day.  

Kirstie Alley as Rebecca, the dry and droll-witted manager of the Cheers bar

Kirstie Alley holds her 1994 Emmy for her work in David’s Mother, a made-for-television movie in which Alley portrayed a mother caring for an autistic son

Alley’s weight became a centerpiece of her career around 2004 after tabloids relentlessly covered her sudden weight gain.

‘Honestly, I didn’t know how fat I was,’ she told Oprah in 2004, opening up about her struggles. ‘Thanks to the tabloids I went, ‘Damn, girl, you’re fat!” 

Soon after she became the official spokesperson for Jenny Craig, and famously lost 75 pounds while promoting the weight-loss system. 

She promoted the company until parting ways in 2007 as her weight began to fluctuate. By 2009 she told PEOPLE she weighted nearly 230 pounds. But by her 2011 appearance on Dancing with The Stars – in which she finished second – she shed nearly 100 pounds. 

Alley long-insisted that she achieved all her weight-loss through hard work and without the help of surgery or treatments. She rejoined Jenny Craig in 2014, and advocated that said women needed to focus on weight-loss for their own reasons, not for others ideas about how they should look.

‘It’s so important for women to look the way they want to look and feel the way they want to feel for their own reasons, not because someone’s telling them to or because it’s fashionable or trendy,’ Alley told Women’s Health that year. ‘Losing weight is losing weight, but just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you’re happy.’ 

In 1989 her movie career began to soar when she appeared alongside John Travolta in the first Look Who’s Talking film, which grossed nearly $300million and was followed up by a pair of sequels

By 1995 she had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as her film and television credits continued to climb

In her later years Alley spoke her mind on social media, and defended herself even in the face of controversy which threatened her career.

In 2015 she took to Twitter to announce that she would not be endorsing Hilary Clinton. 

The next year she announced her support for Donald Trump, only to rescind it months later. 

‘I hate this election’ Alley wrote. ‘And I’m officially no longer endorsing either candidate.’ She included a video of a woman placing a ladder into a dumpster to help a pack of bear cubs to escape, and joked she would be voting for her.

But then in 2020 she revealed she did in fact vote for Trump, and that she intended to again ‘because he’s NOT a politician.’ 

‘I voted for him 4 years ago for this reason and shall vote for him again for this reason. He gets things done quickly and he will turn the economy around quickly. There you have it folks there you have it.’