Kirstie Alley Told It Like It Was When It Came to Her Weight Loss Battles: ‘Just Because You’re Skinny Doesn’t Mean You’re Happy’
Throughout her 40 years in the entertainment spotlight, the late Kirstie Alley struggled with weight gain and loss. Her commonplace challenges endeared her to fans, particularly when Alley opened up about her struggles, saying, “just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you’re happy.”
Kirstie Alley admits she was a ‘foodie,’ but that’s not what caused her weight gain
During a 2013 appearance on The Wendy Williams Show, Alley discussed her 50 lb. weight loss. She partnered with Jenny Craig twice to get to a healthy weight. The Look Who’s Talking actor previously paired with the weight loss plan from 2004 through 2007 and lost 75 pounds.
Alley was open about how she gained the weight back to Williams, laughing, “I ate too much. Sometimes you have men tragedies, and I just went south.” She also admitted she didn’t start gaining weight until age 53, and being a “foodie,” someone who loves to try different foods, didn’t help.
Kirstie Alley told it like it was, said women should do what makes them feel good and not follow other people’s expectations
Alley spoke openly about her body image with Women’s Health Magazine in 2014. She realized that she needed to control her fluctuating weight not to make other people happy but as a way to take control of her own life.
“It’s so important for women to look the way they want to look and feel the way they want to feel for their reasons, not because someone’s telling them to or because it’s fashionable or trendy,” Alley said. “Losing weight is losing weight, but just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you’re happy.”
She continued, “So for me, it’s more about: How do I want to live my life? That’s why I keep at it. I could weigh what I weigh right now, and most people would say I don’t look really fat. But it’s about how I feel and what I can accomplish. Those components are more important. My attention is 10 percent on losing weight, and the rest is on living my life.”
Negativity spurred the actor into taking control of her narrative
— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) December 6, 2022
Alley said that coping with negativity spurred her into taking control of her narrative. Her strength came through when the tabloid press focused on her weight gains and losses over the years.
“If someone attacks me for my weight, I flourish and prosper somewhere else in the universe. I’m the master blaster of turning lemons into lemonade,” she admitted.
“The time it hit me the hardest — because it was the first time I gained a lot of weight — was right before I did Jenny Craig. Attacked in the press for being fat — just brutal,” Alley explained to Women’s Health.
“I also remember that I owed the IRS a lot of money, and I needed to figure that out in 30 days [on top of] the press calling me fat. I had also broken up with a boyfriend, and that was gruesome and hideous. One day, I entered a room, locked the door, and went, ‘What am I going to do? What are my options?’ I wrote a TV series called Fat Actress and made it really funny. I sold it that week.”
The former Cheers and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan star died after a short cancer battle on December 5, 2022. She is survived by her children, Lillie and True Parker, and her grandchildren, Waylon and Ripp. Lille and True tweeted the news of their mother’s passing on her official social media page.
