Actor Kelsey Grammer delivered a warm tribute to his former co-star and friend Kirstie Alley, whom Grammer says he was “blessed” to know.
Alley, who died of cancer at 71 in December, starred in films including Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Look Who’s Talking, and For Richer or Poorer, also co-starred with Grammer in the 1980s TV sitcom, Cheers.
Grammer gushed about Alley in a recent appearance on the The Rachael Ray Show, according to CNN.
“I loved Kirstie,” he said of his frequent co-star and friend. “She was always beautiful. She just had that thing about her. She was a radiant human being and that came through her.”
Grammer also insisted that Alley was “so honest in her emotions all the time,” and praised her for sticking by his side when he got in legal trouble in the 1980s and 1990s.
“She showed up,” he said of Alley’s support for him during his difficult years. “She was one of the only ones who really showed up to be supportive and that was magnificent.”
The Fraiser star had several run-ins with the law in the late 1980s for drunk driving and possession of drugs, for which he served a 30-day jail sentence 1990.
Grammer added, “She always made me laugh. Everything she did made me giggle. The first time I went to her house there were lemurs living on the property and I thought, only in Kirstie world.”
Grammer said he wondered if something was wrong late last year when she was supposed to be in attendance at a friend’s book signing. But she never showed up, and died a short time later.
“I’m just blessed that I even knew her and I’m thrilled that you shared some of those thoughts with us. Thank you, my friend,” Grammer said of Alley.
Alley’s family celebrated her life in an announcement after her death, saying, “Our mother’s zest and passion for life, her children, grandchildren, and her many animals, not to mention her eternal joy of creating, are unparalleled and leave us inspired to live life to the fullest just as she did.”
Alley could be a lightning rod at times and riled the left with her support of Donald Trump and her opinions that often ran contrary to the woke left’s agenda.
Alley very publicly announced her support for Donald Trump both in 2016 and in 2020.
Among some of the other topics she spoke about which angered liberals, in 2020 she mocked new diversity rules for the Oscars, and in 2021 warned parents that Hollywood is working to promote pedophilia and told parents to “protect your children.”
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