Kirstie Alley announced four months ago that she was going to start her own “Weight Loss Brand.” This was after she was dropped as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig after gaining something like 75 pounds in a year. This week’s National Enquirer has a new cover story about Kirstie and how her health is failing and she’s gaining even more weight as she eats like crazy. You’ve got to find some way to cope with the regret after wasting $5 million on Scientology when future career prospects and enlightenment remain elusive. It seems Kirstie’s weight loss program is still in the planning stages.
The Enquirer says that Kirstie collapsed, but it’s more like she got winded and had to hold on to something:
Kirstie simply can’t control her eating and has packed on almost 100 pounds since leaving the Jenny Craig diet program, insiders say…
She regularly orders calorie-laden Chinese and Thai food – and has also been photographed indulging in frozen desserts at Pinkberry.
“Kirstie’s weight crisis took a turn for the worse when she hit the 240-pound mark. Everyone – from her two kids to her staff to her close friends – is trying to get through to her,” said the source…
Her friends are also worried that her excess weight could lead to life-threatening health conditions like cardiovascular problems and a predisposition to diabetes.
Those fears escalated when the 5-foot-8 star collapsed while walking to her car on a steamy, hot California day.
“Kirstie was walking across a parking lot to her car when she suddenly got lightheaded. As she reached her car, she had to grab onto the door handle because her knees began to buckle.”
[From The National Enquirer, print edition, June 30, 2008]
In March it was announced that Oprah’s Harpo productions had signed a TV deal with Alley. No one knows what it was supposed to be about, but The Enquirer speculates that it was a reality show to follow Kirstie on her weight loss journey. Since just about the only place Kirstie can be found lately is outside a restaurant, that has likely been shelved or put on hold.
It doesn’t seem fair to pick on celebrities for gaining weight, even when it’s as obvious as Kirstie’s weight gain. Since she yakked so much about how she was going to solve the weight issue for an entire generation of Americans, it’s probably ok to point out that it’s been a few months and she hasn’t been able to move forward with her own weight loss. In an undated interview with Scientology Magazine “Source,” Kirstie said “I literally walked in the door of Flag [Scientology center] four weeks ago as one person, and I’m walking out an entirely different being, and I mean entirely different.” Maybe they screwed something up and forgot to subtract the old person first.
Header image is a scan from the cover of the June 30th issue of The National Enquirer on news stands now.
While it may not be fair to pick on celebrities in general for gaining weight, when the celebrity is question is a poster girl scientiologist who shouts her stupid, ignorant mouth off about how scientology is the great cure-all to anyone who’ll listen (while she in the meantime grows bigger than a house) then, not only is it fair, it’s obligatory.
But, on the plus side, what a GREAT advertisement she continues to be for scientology! They must feel so blessed.
My sister-in-law (I’ll call her Elizabeth) works at a major health spa in San Diego, and Ms. Alley came in one day (with her entourage) to take a yoga class from her (this would have been about a year and a half ago). After the class, a member of her entourage approached my sister-in-law and said that Ms. Alley enjoyed the class very much, but in the future, would it be possible that my sister-in-law exclude the meditation part of the yoga, seeing as how this went against the grain of Ms. Alley’s scientology beliefs? Elizabeth, who is a lovely, gracious person, smiled and said absolutely not. Nonetheless, Ms. Alley has taken several more classes from her. Elizabeth says that Ms. Alley had some serious Photoshop experts in her publicity department, because she weighed much more than her photos would lead you to believe. She has had lunch with Kirstie (and her entourage) at the spa a couple of times, and she told me that her eating habits are disgusting: she tends to pick up food and eat with both hands at a furious pace, as though she expected someone to take it away from her at any minute.
Some extra hours of auditing should do the trick.
Right?
I can’t help but not feeling sorry for Kirstie Alley although massive weight gain is definitely not an easy situation to go through. Losing pounds is very difficult and demands a huge change in your general life style (take time to do some sport -even if just walking daily-, eat healhy meals, work on your self-esteem and body issues, etc).
But what I dislike Alley for is that she claimed she lost weight, went for the covers for some free publicity (for her carreer AND for Scientology), of course gained everything + some serious extra in no time although she kept saying she was going to go back losing.
The whole problem is: she needs to admit she can’t heal herself although she is three billion times clear and other guru stuff à la Xenu and that a shrink would be a great start.
When you gain so much weight over and over again, there is a big eating disorder going on. Some traditional doctors wouldn’t hurt either (such as a nutritionist).
But psychiatrists are evil men with five red eyes hidden under their white blouse who want to lock your soul under a pile of engrams and thetans.
Right?
You know, I’m not one for wild-eyed conspiracy theories – but does it strike anyone else as odd that Oprah is funding Alley’s new show when no one else will touch her, while at the same time trying to help Tom Cruise rebuild his image?
Obscenely rich, a media icon, and has something like 40% of the female populace in America running out to buy anything with her nod of approval. Yeah, there’s no WAY scientology could be interested in her.
They might be after her, Scott – what power and cash-hungry cult wouldn’t be? – but no way in the world is Oprah likely to go down that route. Also, since Oprah’s Cruise clean-up attempt was an absolute disaster (a two-month old baby could have seen through it), and Alley, despite Oprah’s might, is faltering at ever leaden step, I think the reverse is more likely to be true – Oprah’s secretly working to bring them down. I think that’s a better conspiracy theory.
lol@Alex, I loved the eating with both hands. 🙂 😆
Setting the scientology stuff aside, anyone who has been on a diet rollercoaster can sympathize with her right now. The thing about Jenny Craig is that it doesn’t teach you good eating habits, you just eat their food. So if you decide to leave, you haven’t retaught yourself how to eat healthy. And for most people I know it seems like it’s just common sense (eat less, exercise) but for some people there is an emotional attachment to food that is hard to break. For those of us who have been in similar situations, we can imagine all to well the spiral that she is on right now.
P.S. If you haven’t read “Such a pretty fat: One narcissist’s quest to discover if her life makes her ass look big…Or why pie is not the answer” by Jen Lancaster, run to the bookstore immediately.
I suspect she got the gastric bypass operation and then out-ate it, like about 5-10% of patients do. once you do that there aren’t many other options, other than getting out of the public eye.
Yeah this is sort of sad to pick on someone because they are fat. one would hope we had passed that stage in high school :/
I think that people don’t make fun of her just because she’s fat, they make fun of her for thinking she looks fantastic when she actually is fat. That time she wore the bikini after her great weight loss – I was embarrassed for her. She obviously was not slender enough to wear a bikini, she had on some sort of undergarment with it, and looked horrible. I don’t think she’s a pretty woman anyway, something about that mouth. But she seems to have no self image problems – or maybe she does and it’s all a big pretense. And let me think, exactly what is her talent?
Not making fun of her because she’s fat, making fun of her because she’s irredeemably stupid. Making fun of irredeemably stupid celebrity scientologists who happen to also be the size of a small house is allowed.
It’s a bummer that Scientologists reject psychiatry, I believe therapy and eating disorder counseling is the only way to go for Kirstie.
Anywho, I don’t care for her. She’s a grumpy old hag whose career highpoint was “Look Who’s Talking”.
Stick a pitchfork in her.
I am a big girl, but im not as tall as she is, but she is way over 240 lbs being 5’8..
The thing that makes her a big ole target, is that she worshipped at the shrine of weight loss and expounded all of it’s benefits etc etc. You cannot expect to not be a target for this kind of thing when you do that. I agree with Curly Fry, Jenny Craig/Nutrisystem et al. does not teach you to change your habits. I have not known one person that program has worked for after they went off it. And let’s face it when you double in size, it doesn’t matter if you work at the quickie mart or you are an actress, people are going to talk about it.
Food – taste, texture, aroma – is one of the great pleasures of life. It doesn’t seem, however, like Kirstie is eating because she enjoys it. It seems like she’s eating because she’s miserable. The public always loves to look at rich, famous people who are clearly miserable.
People are also fascinated by her weight because she, herself, makes such an issue of it – the Fat Actress series, the Jenny Craig endorsement, the bikini on Oprah. John Travolta is also a big tub of lard – as well as a Scientologist – but he doesn’t call attention to it, and people give him a pass.
Elton John and Kathy Bates are two other examples. They’re large, but they don’t make a big deal of it.
There’s not the hypocrisy angle of Kirstie Alley – “Look at me, I’m fat!” “Oh, don’t look at me just because I’m fat!”
Quote, “The thing about Jenny Craig is that it doesn’t teach you good eating habits, you just eat their food. So if you decide to leave, you haven’t retaught yourself how to eat healthy.”
Sorry Curly, you fail. This is the most ridiculous statement ever. You pay to be on a diet where they provide the food you are to eat. You lose weight. It doesn’t take more than a 5th grade education to assimilate the Jenny Craig eating regimen to keep the weight off. All one has to do is observe that smaller portion sizes coupled with healthier fare equates keeping the pounds off.
If you spend months and many dollars on a service which provides you with an eating plan which causes you to lose weight and maintain that weight loss and you cannot emulate those meals on your own, you have problems other than “I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to eat now”.
yeah how dare that fatass think she’s attractive… how DARE she not consider my personal feelings and thoughts on the matter before she evaluates herself and determines her self worth and self esteem *rolls eyes* i REALLY hope you’re still in high school…
geronimo, people are allowed to believe in whatever they choose. this is, afterall, a free country… of course, you are also allowed to criticize her for her believes because of this fact… however, do realize that that makes you a subpar human being for thinking you can judge someone sho harshly based on their beliefs…
Oh, thanks for the correction Fluffy. I guess if you can rip the packaging off of a premade meal, then you definitely know the ins and outs of portion control.
I mean, because obviously when someone does something for you, that’s how you learn. My mistake. Good for you Jenny Craig for teaching people healthy eating routines by taking all the thinking out of it.
But, on the other hand, there are probably people that have lost and kept it off on Jenny Craig. When you gain it all back, there are other issues…which I did mention before, but don’t really feel the need to reiterate myself.
Basic Point: It is so sixth grade to make fun of the women for having a weight problem.
I blame those damn hungry body thetans.
I think I spoke too harshly Curly and insulted you and that wasn’t my intention. For that I apologize.
I think we can both agree that there are other underlying issues at work which cause weight gain after leaving a strictly monitored program such as Jenny Craig.
I know that Jenny Craig is not a quick weight-loss program. They advocate losing weight slowly because let’s face it, the longer you are on their program, the more $ they are pocketing!
I still stand by my assertion. If after months and months of small portion sizes and nutritionally balanced meals a person cannot figure out what foods to eat on their own, there are other problems they need to deal with.
I refuse to buy into this “I can’t figure out what to eat on my own now that someone isn’t providing me with sensible pre-packaged meals”.
I have very mixed feelings on this.
On the one hand, what do I care what the hell this woman weighs? So she got fat. So did more than half of my graduating high school class (we’ve been out 20 years). Big whoop-di-doo.
On the other hand, I do have to say this: she does not weigh 240. She weighs considerably more than that. That is not what 240 looks like on someone 5’8″. I’d believe 275-280, even pushing 300.
On the third hand (LOL): she HAS been pretty obnoxious about the whole thing. If I were her, I’d be pretty embarrassed at this point and just decide to shut my mouth about it forever. Why must everything be a big publicity hoo-ha? If she loses some weight, great. But don’t make a big deal out of it, because everytime you do that and then gain weight back, EVERYONE makes a big deal out of it.
So here’s my Unsolicited Plan for Kirstie Alley:
1. Forget the Scientology shit. It hasn’t done you a damn bit of good. As long as they don’t kidnap you or kill you over it, get the hell away from it NOW.
2. Get a GOOD, highly recommended counselor who specializes in eating disorders, self-image, possibly anxiety issues as well. Go. Weekly. Maybe more often than that. Deal with whatever’s causing you to eat like this, because it ain’t hunger, honey. Learn to like yourself.
3. Make moving your body a daily thing. Doesn’t have to be a marathon, but it does have to be a priority. It can be fun. Just make it a habit. Walk, dance, bowl, WHATEVER. Just do something every day. Less sitting on the couch, more moving around.
4. SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT. Don’t go on Oprah about your body or your weight. Don’t do interviews about it. Don’t start a new weight loss product, the world doesn’t fucking need it. Don’t be anyone else’s sponsor. Don’t do any shows with “fat” or “heavy” in the title. And for the love of puppies and kittens, don’t loiter around In and Out Burger or behind Thai kitchens. You have the money to have whatever you need brought to you. Shop at Whole Foods, Central Market, whatever. Stop making your weight, your food, your image your entire life. There are other things out there. Get involved with a charity that has nothing to do with weight. Stop being so self-obsessed.
There you go. My four step plan. No surgery, no pills, no publicity. Go for it, Kirstie.
Fluffy-I think we are both saying the same thing in different ways. And I’m also at fault for not being clearer.
What I’m saying about programs like Jenny Craig…is that when food becomes an addiction…when you eat b/c your _____ (fill in the blank with whatever emotion happy/sad/bored etc.) or b/c it’s raining today, or b/c it’s sunny or you have a bad hair day or you got a promotion at work etc, etc, etc… You have this problem that starts spiraling out of control. When it’s too easy and you don’t have to reprogram yourself you are destined to fail. That’s what I meant before about for some people it’s just common sense, eat less and exercise more=weight loss. For others it’s not that easy. I had to learn how to eat out at restaurants, how to fix dinners, how to have healthy snacks around the house. I knew what to do, I didn’t know how to do it. Not in so much that I didn’t know how to order a salad, it was more that I had to learn how to suppress the craving for things that were bad for me.
I think that it is hard for people who haven’t been in that situation to empathize. They just see the fat girl in the Starbucks having a calorie laden drink and a scone and they think “hey, if you didn’t eat that way, you might not be so fat.”
After different memberships to weight loss programs, I couldn’t keep it up after I stopped going to the center. It’s so easy to fall into bad routines.
Then one day I just decided that I hated the way I looked, and decided to try and do things on my own in a sensible way. I lost the weight and kept it off (except for that pesky 5 lbs. that pop up every now and again 🙂 ) So, yeah…after all that…the point is that its not easy!
I love a good success story!
YAY! Curly!
Anastasia – best unsolicited advice ever.
…please keep in mind this is the National Enquirer…..
Anastasia, that was excellent. Props and congrats to Curly Fry.
It’s not fat or thin, it’s HEALTHY that matters.
I reckon Ms Alley should be forced to pay Anastasia for her advice.
Congrats to Curly Fry
I’m certainly not a person to have a go at someone for being overweight – but I agree with those who say the issue isn’t the weight – it’s the years and dollars spent on a “religion” with the sole purpose, according to members, is to get past the mental blocks which is a significant factor in having an unhealthy relatioship with food.
If someone gets to Clear they should be almost impervious to illness. If you get OT status you’re meant to be practically superhuman
LOL – Personally I love the headline above Kirstie’s photo … “Win free groceries for a year.” It looks like she is illustrating the benefits of consuming a year’s worth of groceries.
You go curly fry! I second your “Such a Pretty Fat” recommendation. I’ve read all of her books, but that one inspired me. I’ve joined a gym and weight-watchers and feeling better about myself everyday.
Wow, Curly, good for you!!! How did you stop the emotional eating cycle? I’m really active, and am well proportioned, so I look about 25 pounds lighter than I actually am. But, try as I may, I just can’t stop celebratory eating, or eating when I’ve had a bad day. I have JUST managed to stop eating on long car trips (eating for boredome). I’ve lost weight many times, so I know all of the right eating stuff. But, damnit, I just don’t want to. (I do eat VERY well, lots of veggies and stuff, but way too many calories in the emotional eating food.) So how did you do it?
This is one subject that always get people talking and drawing lines in the sand. People seem to feel no shame in being openly prejudice and mean.
Anonymous, I agree! “Reformed” fat people are worse than reformed smokers. They think if they can do it then why can’t everybody else.
I know because I’m a former fat person who lost weight (in a very UNhealthy manner) and kept it off, but I used to be so vicious about other heavy people – (I didn’t say it where they could hear it though). I finally grew up and realized that everybody has a different story and I can’t judge them based on their looks and/or eating habits.
Anastacia that was really good advice…particularly the ‘get rid of scientology’ part.
I think part of the problem is that we (as a culture) obsess about food. What we’re eating, what we’re going to eat later, how many calories, how many carbs and on and on and on it goes. Food is meant to be enjoyed but its also fuel. If you put rubbish fuel in your car it won’t run, same principle with your body, if you feed your body rubbish food it isn’t going to run well either.
Doesn’t mean you can’t ever have a treat, chocolate, Burger King whatever (here in NZ its takeaway fish and chips for me) but its meant to be just that a treat…once in a while, not part of a daily diet. And not because it will make you fat but because it isn’t good for you.
I’ll never be a skinny minny, and I don’t want to be, too tortorous. I’m healthy, my body works for me, my sex life is great and I feel good about myself. When I do think about ‘size’ it never occurs to me to beat myself up for being a 14, or go on some restrictive diet. That just makes me really grouchy.
Living and eating without guilt is such an empowering process and I’ve found your diet and life in general just kind of moderates because the guilt is gone, yet another reason why you’ll never hear me whinging about being 42 🙂 Feeling comfortable in your own skin is just one of the side benefits.
I have my ‘fat’ days sometimes but they are getting fewer and farther between…my only regret is I didn’t work this stuff out about a decade earlier would have spared myself considerable angst…
as someone who’s 5’6 and 220, i can say, with certainty, there is no way in hell shes only 20 pound heavier then I am. i’d say she’s pushing 320
She’s obviously an unhappy woman. She used to be a drug addict, she is now in a cult and is — let’s face it — morbidly obese.
240 pounds? I think not — at her height, she is substantially heavier.
There is more to the puzzle than we see on the surface — this woman has serious issues that can only be dealt with by a trained psychiatrist… which is against the Church of $cientology’s beliefs.
She’d lose the weight if she just defected and found herself a great therapist!
She has serious eating issues, no doubt. She needs to lay off the Popeye’s!
@ Wif
It was just about breaking habits, which its sounds like you have already started doing. I mean, I don’t deny myself all the time, because after a few days of that I probably could eat everything that wasn’t nailed to the floor. 🙂 And I’m far from perfect, but I used to beat myself up about it and that just made me eat more.
Before I eat I step back and evaluate, “am I hungry or am I (bored/mad/happy)” and then I decide if I want it or not. Sometimes I still eat something, especially if other people are too, but maybe just less.
But, that’s just me, and it doesn’t work for everybody all the time.
She must be absolutely miserable. She has put herself into a no win situation. Just like Oprah, she put herself out there as a model of weight loss, lost the weight, and then found herself gaining it back chunk by chunk. Why do people do that to themselves? We’ve all got out struggles, but I don’t go out there and advertise mine, sign a contract to get rid of them and then stand in front of the world having to admit that I failed….again. Obviously she didn’t need the money and could have done without the extra publicity. Fame is a drug and she is just another addict.
I hope she keeps eating, cuz i don’t think i can stand to see more commercials, TV shows and posters with that loud mouth. When the mouth is busy eating, leaves it less time for stupid statements and annoying sounds that she’s so famous for
Maybe she needs the I Can Make You Thin Guy from TLC. Too lose all that weight and not feel comfortable and pack it back on…whatever’s on the inside has to match or you just end up where you started.
Scientology can officially claim it’s a cure for something now: Diet Progress. Had success on a diet? Now you can reverse it with the all new anti-weightloss program developed by L. Ron Hubbard: Scientology!
Let Scientologists help you discover the millions of other mouths in your body (thetans) who need to be fed, too, so that you don’t feel guilty when you order that mega-jumbo super deluxe burger with cheesy fries and deep fried coke! They have to eat, too!
Kirstie – if you read this – I’m gonna pray for you. You look so sad and lost inside. Just remember, aside from all this Scientology “stuff”, which can’t get you to heaven…Jesus is always there for you. He is loving you everyday, and just waiting for you to turn around and see Him and His love…His peace…and His joy. Just turn around Kirstie…He is right there…just take His hand, and He will lead you out of the darkness you’re in…trust Him…and you will find everything you’ve been searching for your entire life. I pray that His Light shines in your life, and that you turn to Him…in Jesus Name. Amen. 🙂 I pray all of this in Jesus Name. Amen. 😉 PS – Always remember, “You are beautifully and wonderfully made!”
Being fat should be no big deal for Kirstie! The only downside is that her partner will have to roll her in flour before lovemaking to find the wet spot.
This is really sad. But it should serve as a greater lesson… if you want to lose weight you must eat healthy FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. If you do want to eat unhealthy occasionally, it’s best that you burn it off through walking or something fun, (like DDR or Wii Fitt).
Kristie never learned to appreciate healthy foods despite being on Weight Watchers. She might also be a ‘comfort eater’ due to emotional problems.
Thank you for a very informative data. Learning this will be truly helpful. Every person is the author of his body. Lose weight and be healthy.
I’ve been using nutrisystem for about 3 months. so far i’m very happy with the results. i’ve lost about 15 pounds and several inches from my belly and thighs.
Kristie to me is beautiful heavy or slim. Her spirit just glows! She will work it out. My weight has been yo-yo since high school. I feel for her. I hope she gets healthier again.
I have not seen a photo of Kirsty sitting in any one’s lap yet 🙂
I understand how hard it is the weightloss battle.Just commit to geting back into your plan and you will win.We all can do it.
Hello please dont listen to the negative comments Kirstie i think you are so attractive and you can do anything you put your mind to that is obvious i also have dealt with eating problems just like an alcoholic it is an addiction and you need to look deep inside yourself and find out why you are eating so much and stop for your life…and for your happiness… look to god for your strength and love yourself nomatter what anyone says about you people are just cruel…
When I get on an eating jag, I break it with 1 – 2 whole meals of raw pineapple, and I take some iodine supplementation each day. Then I eat just fresh fruits and a bunch of daily raw greens, with not fats or other carbs or proteins, for a week or two. Tomatoes are great with some head lettuce, which helps heal nerves. If I could afford it, I would be a raw-foods person. I like fitonraw.com
As for Scientology, it has a lot of really GOOD information. Probably, some of the people who join it as a lifestyle, sometimes get so pressured that they lose their balance. Information is just information. Its implementation is individual. Maybe that is what some people in Scientology don’t realize, and thereby make it into a cult for themselves.
Post-Script. I use seasonings with my raw food: mint, oregano, cinnamon, etc. Sometimes putting them into warm, not hot, water to activate the flavors before adding them to smoothies or salads.
That’s one fat woman. She doesn’t have to leave show business, however. She could park herself in a tent and sell tickets. Provided, of course, that she could get someone to bark in the crowds for her.