Kirstie Alley is no stranger to speaking her mind. The Cheers alum has often come under fire for her controversial statements.
In 2011, the Emmy winner competed on Dancing With the Stars and was paired with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. During the dancing competition series, the pair got along well and earned second place. Alley even came back to compete with the Ukraine native for the show’s all-star season the following year.
However, the twosome had a falling out a couple of years later. While appearing on Watch What Happens Live in July 2014, the professional dancer revealed that the twosome were no longer on speaking terms.
“She stopped getting along with me. I think the world of her. I’m not judging people by their religion. I’m Jewish. I don’t really believe in science fiction, whatever,” he said at the time. “I thought we had a great relationship.”
The former dance partners’ feud escalated even more when Chmerkovskiy became close with Leah Remini — who competed on the 17th season of the competition series and was a cohost for seasons 19 and 20.
“A note was sent to a friend telling me I was ‘disconnected,’ as in, I am no longer allowed to be Kirstie’s friend,” the dancer revealed to Us Weekly in September 2016. “I find it ridiculous for an adult human being to ‘disconnect’ from someone. But everyone is entitled to their own insanity.”
Remini and Alley have had their own feud going on for years that escalated when the King of Queens alum left Scientology back in 2013. The Old School actress shared while appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show at the time that she had lost friends after leaving the religion — and Alley fired back.
“First of all, I just want to [let] everyone to know I have hundreds of friends and people that I know that have come into Scientology and left Scientology,” Alley said at the time. “It is not true that you cannot [leave] … You’re not shunned, you’re not chased. All that stuff’s bulls—t.”
The tension between the two ladies continued throughout the years and brought Chmerkovskiy even more into the fold in 2022 after getting into an argument while discussing the war in Ukraine on social media. Alley shared she would “continue to pray for the people of the Ukraine” noting that she prayed to the same god as everyone else. Remini fired back telling her to stop with the “fake tough talk and bring it.”
Later that year, Alley died after a short battle with cancer. She was 71.
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“We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered,” the actress’ family shared in a letter via Alley’s Instagram in December 2022. “She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead. As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”
Scroll down to see more quotes from the It Takes Two actress through the years:
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