They were such close friends she once called him the “greatest love” of her life but did Kirstie Alley and John Travolta ever date? Just four years before her untimely death, Alley rather tragically suggested her Look Who’s Talking co-star was the one that got away during an appearance on reality TV.
Alley and Travolta starred in three movies together: Look Who’s Talking and two sequels, Look Who’s Talking Now and Look Who’s Talking, Too, the first of which hit cinemas in 1989. In the romantic comedy franchise, Alley plays an accountant, Mollie, who becomes pregnant after an affair with a married executive. While growing in the womb, the baby begins to make voice-over commentary, acted by Bruce Willis. Travolta plays James, a New York City cab driver who speeds through downtown traffic to get her to the hospital in time to give birth and they spark up a friendship. Abandoned by her baby daddy, Mollie has to make it work as a single mother until Mikey (Willis) decides he wants James to be his father and high jinks ensue.
Did Kirstie Alley and John Travolta date?
Did Kirstie Alley and John Travolta date? No, but they forged a lifelong friendship after starring as love interests in the Look Who’s Talking trilogy, though Alley has spoken at length about the romantic feelings she had for him over the years. Upon news of her death at age 71, after a recent cancer diagnosis, Travolta made the following statement on Instagram: “Kirstie was one of the most special relationships I’ve ever had,” he wrote. “I love you Kirstie. I know we will see each other again.”
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In 2018, Alley made an appearance on reality TV as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother UK. While regaling her fellow housemates with stories of her past romances, Alley revealed at the time that she thought she “kissed Travolta” and “almost ran off and married” him but she was already married to Parker Stephenson. “I did love him; I still love him,” she said. “If I hadn’t been married, I would’ve gone and married him and I would’ve been in an airplane because he has his own plane.”
Parker and Alley divorced in 1997, while Travolta had been married to Kelly Preston in 1991. Preston died of cancer in 2020. “It took me years to not look at John as a romantic interest,” Alley told Howard Stern in 2013, adding that he was “the greatest love of my life.” It wouldn’t be the last time Alley went into detail about her feelings for her ‘80s co-star. During a 2018 interview on the podcast The Dan Wootton Interview, Alley said not sleeping with Travolta was “one of the hardest things” she’d ever done. “[It was] the hardest decision I’ve ever made because I was madly in love with him — we were fun and funny together,” said the Cheers alum. “It wasn’t a sexual relationship because I’m not going to cheat on my husband.”
She continued: “But, you know, I think there are things that are way worse than sexual relationships than cheating on someone that way. I consider what I did even worse because I actually let myself fall in love with him and stay in love with him for a long time.” Such was her infatuation with the Grease star that even after he married Preston, she kept flirting with him. That is until Preston herself confronted Alley about it. “Kelly came up to me, and they were married then, and she said, ‘Erm, why are you flirting with my husband?’” Alley said. “And that was sort of when I had to make a decision and that was pretty much the end of that.”
Alley went on to have two children, William True and Lillie, with Stephenson, and they were the ones that broke the news that their mother had died after a “recent” cancer diagnosis. “To all our friends, far and wide around the world…We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered,” William and Lillie said in a statement on Alley’s Instagram. “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.”
The statement continued, “We are grateful to the incredible team of doctors and nurses at the Moffitt Cancer Center for their care. 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. We thank you for your love and prayers and ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time. With love always, True and Lillie Parker.”
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Ted Danson, Alley’s Cheers co-star, also paid tribute to her in a statement to E! News. “I was on a plane today and did something I rarely do. I watched an old episode of Cheers,” he said. “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. Her ability to play a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown was both moving and hysterically funny.” He continued, “She made me laugh 30 years ago when she shot that scene, and she made me laugh today just as hard. As I got off the plane, I heard that Kirstie had died. I am so sad and so grateful for all the times she made me laugh. I send my love to her children. As they well know, their mother had a heart of gold. I will miss her.”
Before her death, Alley was open about her health and weight. She worked as a spokesperson for the weight-management company, Jenny Craig, from 2004 to 2007, where she lost 75 pounds, bringing her weight down to 145 pounds. In an interview with People in 2009, Alley revealed she had gained 83 pounds and weighed 228 pounds after her partnership ended with Jenny Craig. “It started with New Year’s [2008], right after leaving Jenny Craig. “I started screaming,” she said. “It said 228 lbs., which is my highest weight ever. I was so much more disgusting than I thought!…I fell off the horse.” She continued, “It started with New Year’s [2008], right after leaving Jenny Craig. When you’re a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, there’s responsibility. You have a person every week standing over you when you get on the scale, and I did it naked because those panties could weigh 30 lbs.! It was amazingly successful. But the first nail in the coffin was that I didn’t have to weigh in. I just sort of went wild.” Alley resumed her partnership with Jenny Craig in April 2014. Jenny Craig’s parent company also acquired Alley’s weight-loss company, Organic Liaison, and integrated its products into Jenny Craig’s product line.
Image: Atria Books.
For more about Kirstie Alley, read her 2012 memoir, The Art of Men (I Prefer Mine Al Dente). The book—which is a follow-up to Alley’s 2005 memoir, How To Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life: Reluctant Confessions of a Big-Butted Star—is a collection of candid and audacious essays that provides readers with never-before-told details on Alley’s most famous Hollywood relationships: John Travolta, Parker Stevenson, Ted Danson, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Swayze, Woody Allen, Woody Harrelson. “Kirstie chronicles all the good, the bad, and the ugly men who have influenced and guided her. She demonstrates how men can be the air that women breathe or the source of all of their frustrations. But for better or worse, Kirstie shows that a life well-lived is a life lived in the company of men,” the publisher’s description reads. “Especially if they remember to put the lid down.”
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