Amongst those mourning the tragic death of Kirstie Alley is her former
Look Who's Talking co-star John Travolta, and his thoughts for her are truly moving.
Actor Kirstie Alley has died after a brief battle with cancer at the age of 71. Her kids,
True and Lillie Parker, confirmed her passing in a statement on Instagram on
December 5, 2022, remembering Alley as an "incredible, fierce, and loving mother."
Alley got her breakthrough playing Rebecca Howe in Cheers from 1987 to 1993. The role
earned her a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy series. Alley also
played John Travolta's leading lady in the romantic comedy Look Who's Talking in 1989,
which had two sequels, Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now in the '90s. Most recently,
she appeared in the 2020 Lifetime movie You Can't Take My Daughter as Suzanne.
John Travolta posted a brief but touching tribute to Kirstie Alley in the wake of
her death. Sharing a throwback photo of him and Alley, Travolta reflected
on the bond he had with his Look Who's Talking co-star, writing in the caption,
In a 2020 interview on The Talk, Alley said she and Travolta were
open to doing another Look Who's Talking sequel, telling the hosts:
At the time, a reboot of the film was reported to be in the works,
with Deadline reporting that Jeremy Garelick of The Wedding Ringer would write and direct the
project. With Alley gone, time will only tell how this project will move forward, if at all.
Kirstie Alley was married to Baywatch star Parker Stevenson when John Travolta played
her love interest in Look Who's Talking, but Travolta had her wanting to make like greased
lightnin' and speed away into the sunset with the Grease heartthrob. In a 2013 interview with ET,
Alley revealed that she was screaming inside the first time she met Travolta,
but she did her best to play it cool. Travolta said that he had no idea Alley
was romantically interested in him, chalking up his obliviousness to her incredible
acting skills. Then in a 2012 Nightline interview with Barbara Walters, Alley said,
"Believe me, it took everything that I had inside, outside, whatever, to not run off and marry John."
Travolta was single at the time,
but Alley revealed that she decided to stick with Stevenson, explaining,
Look Who's Talking hit theaters in 1989, and Alley remained married to Stevenson until 1997.
By the time she was single again, Travolta had wed actress Kelly Preston. However, Alley and Travolta
got another opportunity to fall in love with each other on screen when they appeared together in
Alley's sitcom Kirstie in 2014. Alley told ET that their television love scene wasn't
as steamy as the one they'd previously filmed because they had on more clothing.
"Give us 20 more years and see what we're wearing."
Kirstie Alley had a difficult time letting go of her romantic feelings for John Travolta. In fact,
she couldn't even hide them from his wife. During a 2018 appearance on The Dan Wootton Interview,
Alley confessed that her flirtations with her close friend eventually started making
Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, feel uncomfortable. She recalled:
Luckily, Alley and Preston were able to put the awkwardness behind
them and forge their own special bond. Preston told Health in 2013:
Like Alley, Preston also died from cancer. After she passed away in 2020,
Alley paid tribute to Preston on Twitter. She shared a link to a moving mashup
of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World" and wrote,