Hollywood is mourning the loss of Kirstie Alley,
but what has her estranged husband got to say about her passing?
Those who knew Kirstie Alley best are toasting the Cheers star one last time as they say
goodbye to the outspoken actor. Alley's death was announced by her two children,
Lillie Price Stevenson and William True Stevenson,
in a joint social media post. They revealed that their mother had been diagnosed with an
undisclosed type of cancer not long before she died. The announcement read, in part:
"Our mother's zest and passion for life, her children, grandchildren and her many animals,
not to mention her eternal joy of creating,
were unparalleled and leave us inspired to live life to the fullest just as she did."
Lillie and William are the children of Alley and her second husband,
Hardy Boys star Parker Stevenson. Alley and Parker
wed in 1983 after meeting at a bar. She once recalled to People magazine:
"I saw him and said to my roommate, 'For him, I would die.'"
While accepting her Emmy award in 1991, Alley famously said of her then-husband:
"I wanted to thank my husband Parker,
the man who has given me the big one for the last eight years."
Alley and Parker adopted William in 1992 and Lillie in 1995. They divorced in 1997,
and in a Nightline interview with Barbara Walters,
Alley confessed to falling in love with two famous men while married to Parker.
"It took everything that I had inside, outside, whatever, to not run off and marry John."
However, Parker had nothing but kind words for his late ex-wife in his
tribute to Alley. On December 5th, Parker Stevenson celebrated Kirstie Alley's life
by sharing a throwback photo of the two exes taken during happier days. He wrote:
"Dear Kirstie, 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."
Alley and Parker became grandparents for the first time when their son, William,
welcomed a baby boy in 2016. They got another grandchild to dote on
when their daughter, Lillie, gave birth to a son in 2021.
When she appeared on Nightline in 2012, Alley confessed to struggling
with monogamy. She told Barbara Walters that she and her North and South co-star
Patrick Swayze fell hard for each other while she was still married to Parker.
"We did fall in love with each other."
"He wanted you to get divorced and marry him, for heaven's sakes?"
Alley also said that she found it hard to resist the temptation to leave Parker for her Look Who's
Talking leading man and fellow Scientologist John Travolta. Parker referenced Alley and
Travolta's shared religion while speaking to Smashing Interviews Magazine in 2013. He said:
"Religiously we were never on the same page."
Parker Stevenson isn't the only one mourning Kirstie Alley, of course. Many of her former
colleagues are also paying tribute to the late actor. Alley's Look Who's Talking co-star John
Travolta was one of the first to express his heartbreak over her passing. He wrote:
"Kirstie was one of the most special relationships
I've ever had. I love you Kirstie. I know we will see each other again."
Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred with Alley in Scream Queens, wrote:
"I've just heard the sad news that Kirstie Alley has died. She was a great comic foil
in @tvscreamqueens and a beautiful mama bear in her very real life."
Curtis went on to say that she and Alley "agreed to disagree" on some
matters but the two still shared a "mutual respect and connection."
Alley's Cheers co-stars have also been deeply affected by her death. Alley
played Rebecca Howe on the long-running hit sitcom. Longtime Cheers actor Ted
Danson recalled recently watching Alley on an old episode. He told Deadline:
"I was on a plane today and did something I rarely do. I watched an old episode of
Cheers. It was the episode where Tom Berenger proposes to Kirstie, who keeps saying no,
even though she desperately wants to say yes. Kirstie was truly brilliant in it."
Kelsey Grammer, who played Frasier in the show, simply said:
"I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her."