Wild Thing: Kirstie Alley on Her Body and Career

The Interview

Ladies' Home Journal: Exactly how many animals do you have in this house?

Kirstie Alley: I have six dogs, four cats, chinchillas...I can't say exactly how many animals I have because the authorities might come after me. I will say I have koi [Ed. Note: Japanese fish] and rabbits, though.

LHJ: It looks as though you also have some raccoons. The trash from your bins is strewn across the driveway.

KA: No, that was probably the paparazzi going through my trash.

LHJ: The tabloids have been after you for years, haven't they?

KA: I was 220 pounds and being pummeled by the media. I'd show up at a premiere and then see the most hideous photographs of me in a magazine. I was under assault. But I had to take responsibility for being a celebrity -- that whether you like it or not, when you walk out the door, you're a target.

LHJ: So you eventually solicited Jenny Craig in hopes of becoming their spokeswoman. That was bold, because if you failed, you'd be the butt of every Saturday Night Live joke.

KA: Yeah, but I love that game. When I play ball, I play hardball. The reason I went for Jenny Craig is I thought, Maybe I'm not the only one who has stupid reasons for getting fat. I don't believe you have to have eating disorders and mental illness to screw up. You can just make some really bad decisions. And I personally believe that behind both the person who weighs 400 pounds and the one who weighs 85 there is a lot of baggage, and it has nothing to do with their bodies.

LHJ: Okay. So now you've lost...

KA: Sixty something. I want to weigh about 138.

LHJ: How drastically have your eating habits changed?

KA: Before, for breakfast I'd have two eggs, two or three pieces of toast, and then maybe three caramel apples. Later, instead of a plate of pasta, I would have, like, three plates of pasta, seven dinner rolls, five tablespoons of butter. If I were going to have chips, I would have 120 instead of 20. If something tasted good I wanted more -- a lot more.