Kirstie Alley Hits the Reality TV Circuit
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times
The fluctuating weight of Kirstie Alley has the once-svelte “Cheers” star headed for the Reality TV circuit, with a new show about weight loss on A&E, already filming at the actress’s Los Feliz home where she says she saw her life and didn’t like what was in front of her.
It’s there that Alley said she discovered what her everyday life looked like from the outside. “When I see the footage, I’m shocked. I see myself playing with my lemurs, and then I see footage of the stuff around my house . . . it does look a little Alice in Wonderland-ish. Apparently, I am very eccentric. I had no idea.”“Kirstie Alley’s Big Life” was originally conceived as a project she’d produce, a weight loss show not unlike “The Biggest Loser.” But when the major networks passed on it because she refused to eliminate the participants competition-style, producers asked if instead she’d let them film her own journey trying to slim down. Eventually she agreed to the project because, she said, “I hate being fat.”
Alley’s new A&E series
Of course, the kooky mishmash of her Hollywood life is a perfect backdrop for the show, which airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on A&E. Also helpful: The actress is a loud and proud Scientologist (she credits Scientology for helping her nix a cocaine habit) and keeps her infamous pet lemurs in a cage outside her Los Feliz home.
Welcoming cameras
She’s hardly self-conscious about it. Like any actress who chooses to live and work in Los Angeles, Alley is relishing the positive attention from cameras that aren’t being wielded by lurking paparazzi. “Now that the show is filming, there are less of them. Usually, there are 10 cars parked outside at any time,” she said. And they better watch out: During an interview at her house, Alley revealed that she has a private investigator check into their backgrounds, and has turned in at least one peeping photographer to the police when it was discovered he was a sex offender.
California security guard patrol services are certainly a big part of the scene in and around Hollywood and Alley’s home is no exception. Her children are older now, so she doesn’t have to worry about the paparazzi following her or them to daycare every morning. But like the majority of Hollywood’s elite class, there are always injury attorneys standing by at the ready in case there are violations of any of the state’s trespassing and stalker laws.“Fat Actress,” in which she lampooned herself first and Hollywood second. When she pushed for her Jenny Craig commercials to be “self-deprecating and hysterical” — “They have chicken fettuccine.?.?.?. FETTUCCINE!!!” she screamed in one ad — instead of something more earnest, her partnership with the weight-loss business ended.active Twitter account, knows she can be very funny. Brazen too. Asked how she put back all 75 pounds she famously lost a few years ago — a triumph she celebrated by baring her new bod in a bikini for Oprah Winfrey — Alley said, “It took me awhile to figure out I can’t eat 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day, which is what I ate my whole life and stayed thin. It [ticks] me off.”
In “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life,” the cameras document her second major attempt to drop pounds, this time with the help of a guy friend she recruits as a “chubby buddy.” It’s a benign half-hour show filled with fumbling assistants, botched workouts, quality time with her kids, True, 18, and Lillie, 16, and a lot of laughs at her own expense. Alley is usually the first to poke fun at her problems, evidenced best by
But it’s time, Alley said, to restart the part of her career that isn’t all about her figure, and that means keeping the weight off. Why film the makings of her comeback? “So I’m in a pickle again, and we sort of know how my life will go at the end of the pickle because I’ve had a 30-year track record in films and television. But during the pickle is what I think might be interesting for people to see.”
Anyone familiar with Alley’s Emmy-winning work on “Cheers,” or her
“Kirstie Alley’s Big Life” premiered March 21 and, from the first couple of episodes, it’s obvious that shrinking that 230-pound frame will be a challenge. (Growing the ratings will be another: The show attracted only about 1.3 million viewers Sunday.) But since those episodes were filmed, she’s shed 20 pounds using a weight-loss plan she launched called Organic Liaison. (When “Today” show host Meredith Vieira asked her two weeks ago about a report written by Roger Friedman of the Hollywood Reporter alleging that the program was “a front for Scientology,” Alley cursed — and then she laughed. “It’s not true,” Alley said. Does the church profit? “I’m way too cheap to do that.” Alley later tweeted that Friedman “is a front for poop.”)
Oprah’s help
Oprah is among those cheering her on. Alley contacted the talk-show host, who has also battled weight issues in the public eye for years, on a whim a few years ago. “I sent in a tape cold of me going, ‘Oprah, look at me, I’m really fat. I think if I had a better looking kitchen, I would be thin. Can you help me?’ And she did,” Alley said. She’s been back several times. “You know you have those friends who invite you over because you’re sort of the court jester? I feel like I’m Oprah’s jester.”
Alley has always done whatever makes her happy. “When I decided to do ‘Cheers,’ people said, ‘Oh my God, don’t do that. Stick to movies.’ And then after the show, I went back to movies. Then I wanted to spend time with my kids, so I started doing commercials and people said, ‘Don’t do commercials!’ But I’m like this — I don’t care!”
For now, that means getting back to 145 pounds, maybe producing a movie — one about “real women” — and sharing her life with an audience. “I like to inspire people. That’s why I got into this business. I want to inspire people to do something . . . I don’t know what, but something!”
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My Take: In Hollywood DVD copy parlance, there’s nothing more fun to me on TV than the original Cheers, but I did actually grow to like Kirstie Alley and her character as the tough new bar owner after Sam’s short-lived departure. I admire Kirstie for being able to take a look at herself so irreverently and make an effort to pass on her struggles and battles with her demons to the general public. We see so many cover-ups in Hollywood and so many issues are swept under the carpet, that it’s really no big surprise when we learn of one more celebrity or wanna-be celebrity dying of a hidden addiction.
We know that many stars, men and women both, head off into secrecy all the time for hair restoration work, or a face lift specialists in Miami and when they return to the public eye looking refreshed and “worked on,” we accept the changes as a normal aspect of Hollywood life.
If you run a DVD duplication company and sell pirated DVDs of Alley’s TV and film projects, you can get into serious trouble if caught. But nothing is more serious to a star than protecting their children from the paparazzi, which means that, when they conduct a daycare search one of the primary goals is to find a location where other stars’ kids go, so the school is desensitized to the cameras and the fame and the kids get what they need the most.
You can work as an burn injury lawyer or even provide hair transplant services to the stars. And if you’re approached by the right people with the right price on the table, you’ll likely talk about your clients “treatment.” But daycare issues are sacred, and when it comes to kids the price for revealing information about stars, even if they bare their big naked bodies on national television, is a high one to pay.
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