Wild Thing: Kirstie Alley on Her Body and Career

A Candid Look at Kirstie Alley

A chattering chinchilla. An 8-foot-tall castle dollhouse. A bright-red lobster lamp. No, this is not Dr. Dolittle 3. This is real life inside Kirstie Alley's Italianate mansion in the Hollywood Hills. The mansion may ooze Old World charm, but just under the ornate frescoes and cathedral ceilings are healthy dollops of whimsy -- everything from dancing cat sculptures to hallways with decreasingly miniature doors that one has to eventually crouch down to pass through. In this mix of the classic and absurd live Alley, 55, her son, William True, 13, and her daughter, Lillie Price, 11.

Alley walks out of her green-tiled kitchen in a V-neck argyle sweater of pinks and browns paired with dark-pink velour sweats and a pair of jewel-encrusted flip-flops. On her face there's only a swipe of sheer red lip gloss. Her skin is creamy and she's about 60 pounds lighter than she was on Fat Actress. Her new, still boldly curvy body is a clear sign that she's taking her role as Jenny Craig spokesgal seriously. Now, years after playing Rebecca Howe on Cheers, making at least a dozen films, writing How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life, and reinventing her career in 2005 by capitalizing on gaining more than 80 pounds, the 5-foot-8 Alley is looking for fresh challenges. On the docket? Acting in a new TV series, producing a radio show and children's films, starring in an exercise video based on her own four-day-a-week workouts, and oh, yeah, just maybe meeting a man worthy of another trip down the aisle.