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CNN Larry King Live
Interview with Kirstie Alley
Aired March 18, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, Kirstie Alley is here with a very big promise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRSTIE ALLEY, ACTOR: This is my last time being fat, so take a good look.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: She's dishing about sex.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEY: And I don't aspire to be promiscuous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Being a tabloid target.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEY: It looks hideous. Some days I'm pissed. Some days I think it's hysterical.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And the butt of fat jokes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEY: You know, I think it's a good one, you know, damn pretty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: She tells us who she really likes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEY: I love her. I think that she's an amazing person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And who she really doesn't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kirstie, what did you have to eat?
ALLEY: I hate them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The one, the only larger than life, Kirstie Alley, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEY: I'm a walking contradiction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: On LARRY KING LIVE.
What a pleasure to welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE -- it's been a long time -- Emmy-winning actress Kirstie Alley is here. Her new reality show premieres Sunday, March 21st on A&E. She was last on this show in March of 2005. So it's five years. That was for a mockumentary series titled "Fat Actress."
Now she's about to debut in "Kirstie Alley's Big Life."
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "KIRSTIE ALLEY'S BIG LIFE," COURTESY A&E)
ALLEY: The fat stuff, like, honest to God, is it embarrassing to you or does it piss you off?
TRUE ALLEY, KIRSTIE'S SON: People talking about you being fat?
ALLEY: Yes.
T. ALLEY: I don't know...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they aren't talking about Lillie being fat.
T. ALLEY: I mean, I guess it's a little irritating. But it doesn't like, you know, greatly upset me. It doesn't really faze me.
ALLEY: Does it upset you that I'm fat?
T. ALLEY: No.
ALLEY: Slightly?
LILLIE ALLEY, KIRSTIE'S DAUGHTER: No.
ALLEY: It's never embarrassing?
L. ALLEY: No.
T. ALLEY: No, no. Well, you're not like -- you're not...
ALLEY: Circus fat?
T. ALLEY: Yes.
L. ALLEY: Oh my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: You're a funny dame.
Kirstie Alley, always good to see you.
Five years since you've been here.
ALLEY: I know. It doesn't seem that long.
KING: We've called. We've written. We've telegraphed. We've phoned.
ALLEY: I -- I know you have. And you're so nice to call me and want me to come back. I just wanted to have something to talk about.
KING: And we do have something to talk about.
ALLEY: All right. Good.
KING: All right.
What is -- what is -- what is "Kirstie Alley's Big Life?"
Is that a -- like a double entendre there?
ALLEY: Yes. Because I wanted it to be called "Kirstie Alley's Really Really Really Big Life."
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: And they wouldn't let me do that, so.
KING: Now, what's the meaning?
ALLEY: Well, it's sort of, you know, an analogy for -- well, the -- part of it is true.
KING: Being fat?
ALLEY: Yes, part of it is the fat thing. And part of it is I do live a really big life. I am sort of an eccentric person. And I didn't realize how eccentric I was until I saw some clips of my show. You know, I have these monkeys and I have these things and I just take them for granted and I think they're normal.
KING: You have monkeys at home?
ALLEY: Yes. We have 10 lemurs. KING: Ten?
ALLEY: Ten.
KING: You know, there's a monkey named "Larry the Lemur" at the Columbus Zoo?
ALLEY: No.
KING: Yes.
ALLEY: Is he an avatar on...
KING: Is it a lemur...
ALLEY: Is he an avatar on Twitter?
KING: Yes, it's like avatar. Wait a minute.
ALLEY: So cute.
KING: Is lemur a monkey?
ALLEY: Lemurs are. They're the oldest monkeys. They're from Madagascar. The oldest (INAUDIBLE)...
KING: That's correct.
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: All right. What's the difference between big life and being fat.
Is there a difference?
ALLEY: Well, one is a show and one is reality.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: When you look at yourself in the mirror...
ALLEY: Yes?
KING: -- and you've lost some weight...
ALLEY: Yes, I'm looking pretty good...
KING: You're one of the most beautiful...
ALLEY: I think.
KING: Beautiful faces on the planet.
ALLEY: Thank you very much. KING: What do you see?
When you look in the mirror, what does Kirstie Alley see?
ALLEY: Well, recently I see myself shrinking, which I happen to like, because it's more real to me. It's -- you know, I've spent more of my life, by a lot, thin than fat.
KING: Right.
ALLEY: So I like what I see. And I get -- it is cathartic to do this show, as it was to do "Fat Actress," because you get to laugh at yourself. And you really need to laugh at yourself if you've screwed something up in life.
KING: You're able to do that, huh?
ALLEY: I am able to do that. I'm able to do it easier -- I do it more easily when I see myself on film sort of self-deprecating, sort of making fun of myself a little bit. It does help me laugh.
KING: It does, really?
ALLEY: It does. Totally.
KING: OK.
What -- by the way, what's the least you've ever weighed?
You're 5'8".
What were you when you were on -- on "Cheers?"
ALLEY: "Cheers," I would fluctuate from probably 118 to 135.
KING: The most you've ever weighed?
ALLEY: The most I ever weighed was 230.
KING: How did that happen?
Or how did you let that happen?
ALLEY: I don't know how it happened, Larry.
KING: No, I mean, seriously, what -- what...
ALLEY: I don't know really what I...
KING: Maybe you're depressed?
ALLEY: -- you know, because, you know, the last time I was here...
KING: Did you binge?
ALLEY: Was I here fat last time or thin?
KING: Fat. I think fat.
ALLEY: Because, see, I only like to do your show when I'm fat. When I'm thin, I'm not going to have anything to do with you. It's just no.
KING: That's what your -- you -- your appeal with me is fat.
ALLEY: Yes. Because you...
KING: With other guys, it could be thin.
ALLEY: Not all guys talk to fat girls. And you like to have me here to talk to me. So I'm down with that.
KING: (INAUDIBLE). What would you like -- ideally, seriously, what would you like to weigh?
ALLEY: I don't know the exact answer to that because I don't know what I look like at this age which weight. But I'm saying, I know for sure it's between 135 and 150.
KING: All right.
Were you weight conscious like in high school?
Were you someone who took the scale every day?
ALLEY: No. I was body conscious in high school because I didn't think my boobs were big enough and I didn't -- and I thought I was sort of too thin and too muscular because I was a swimmer. And, you know, it was all about -- I had, you know, an eight-pack. But, you know, who wants an eight-pack when you're 16?
You know, when I got to college I thought, whoa, I have a good body. That's when it -- I sort of real -- sort of realized I actually had a good body.
KING: When did the weight gain start?
ALLEY: It started when I was -- let me see, it started in 2004. And...
KING: Well after "Cheers."
ALLEY: Oh, yes, yes, yes. Well after everything. It started in 2004. And honest to God, I'm just -- I have to raise my responsibility level and my accountability level, because I've always eaten tons of food my whole life. And it worked. I had a high metabolism. I could eat whatever I wanted to, basically. And if I gained weight, you know, we're talking about within the 10-pound range.
I'd weigh 10 pounds -- I'd lose 10 pounds. I'd gain 10 pounds, I'd lose 10 pounds, whatever. KING: But you always -- food, you liked food?
ALLEY: Love. And always ate the wrong food.
KING: But still didn't gain a lot of weight?
ALLEY: No. It didn't have a lot to do with it.
KING: So what happened, do you think?
ALLEY: I don't know what happened, other than maybe I -- you know, maybe age has something to do with it. I know not working out has something to do with it.
KING: Why did you stop working out?
ALLEY: Well, I've never worked out very hard. You know, I was an athlete and I worked out every day just because I was a swimmer. So you -- that's what your -- that is what's required of you is to swim two or three hours a day. And we called them calisthenics, but...
KING: Was there ever a time...
ALLEY: Yes?
KING: -- when the weight started to increase that you looked in the mirror and said, bad?
ALLEY: Yes, absolutely. But I think maybe not soon enough. I think maybe -- I'm really stubborn. I'm really hard-headed. And for me to quit a habit takes a couple of runs at it. You know, I was a cocaine addict and I took a couple of runs at it. And then when I said -- finally went, that's it, that's it for real, you know, that was 1979 and I never...
KING: You have an addictive personality.
ALLEY: Yes, I do, Larry.
KING: And the problem with eating is, it tastes good, right?
ALLEY: Yes...
KING: There's instant rewards.
ALLEY: And it's also like no one is saying to you -- your whole life -- it's not -- there's not very many people that would say, Kirstie, you've got to do more coke, I mean I think it's really good for you, it really enhances your life.
KING: But this, it's good.
ALLEY: Right. But -- and so you don't get -- it's the same with cigarettes. I quit smoking a couple of times. Now I haven't smoked for five years. I think that's my last time. I don't have any desire to smoke ever again. It needs to be with me that I don't have the desire to have that effect that I create on myself ever again.
KING: I've got it. I think I understand you.
ALLEY: Good.
KING: There's something wrong with me.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Kirstie Alley is our guest, the Emmy-winning actress. The new show, "Kirstie Alley's Big Life," premieres Sunday, March 21st on A&E.
Kirstie's bikini moment on Oprah is coming up.
ALLEY: God help us.
KING: How does she feel about it now?
Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "KIRSTIE ALLEY'S BIG LIFE," COURTESY A&E)
ALLEY: 1-800-JENNY-20.
Jenny Craig, please.
This is Kirstie Alley.
It's in regards to me being fat.
Can you hold on a second?
Hey, you're chubby, too. Let's lose weight together. They have really yummy food. That will make it easy for us. They have chicken fettuccini.
Fettuccini!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Kirstie Alley. Her new show starts March 21st.
You became a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, lost 75 pounds.
What happened there?
ALLEY: Well, that was good.
KING: Yes. So why didn't you stay with Craig, lose a lot of weight and make a lot more money?
I imagine they paid you pretty well, Jenny Craig? ALLEY: Oh, yes, they were very...
KING: Jenny is very...
ALLEY: It was -- that was a wonderful experience all across the board. I think in the very end, we had some creative differences. You know, I like my commercials to be funny. Maybe they wanted them to be a little more special. I don't know how you would say it -- a little more serious.
But, you know, it was -- so when I wasn't, the pressure was off me. That's not a good thing with me. I'm the girl that needs to keep a little pressure on. Like I will never -- here's why I really admire you, because I do not believe in retiring. And I believe that that really means expiring. And I'm not going to go that route.
So I -- I know that I'm going to do this forever. I will do some show forever, if I have to do it in my damn backyard.
KING: All right. On November -- on November of 2006, you strutted yourself in a bikini on Oprah.
Let's watch, quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST: Come on out, Kirstie Alley.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: What was that like to do that, look at that?
ALLEY: Well...
KING: Why did you do -- look at that.
ALLEY: What do you mean, why did I do it?
You look like you're going to throw up.
KING: No.
ALLEY: It doesn't look good on this camera. But let me tell you something very stupid about myself. This is what I said when I did that. No one is allowed to take photographs.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: I live in 1938. And I thought, well, there's no photographs, so this will be the end. I'll walk out, I'll go blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's the end of that. So stupid. All they have to do is take a framed shot. You know, and -- little did I know that this would be all over YouTube. It has had like millions of hits. KING: It had a life of its own.
ALLEY: It -- it does. It was this -- it was its own show.
KING: Was it your idea, Oprah's idea, Oprah's producer's idea?
ALLEY: No, of course it wasn't Oprah's idea, because she doesn't have stupid ideas. It was my idea, because I just thought, if I can get myself to come out here in a bikini, then I know that I am liberated. And then I realized, oh my God, now I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I made some errors in my life.
KING: What were you thinking when you walked out?
ALLEY: What...
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: What were you thinking?
That's not -- when you ask me that, what were you thinking?
I was thinking...
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Why is that funny?
What were you thinking?
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: I was thinking...
KING: About...
ALLEY: Well, I was really about to cry.
KING: -- minestrone soup.
What were you thinking?
ALLEY: I was really about to cry because I had told her -- I said, the only way I'll come out is in stripper hose, because I'm not going to come out with all -- you know, just any other way, so I have to wear hose. And my hose kept breaking and running and it was horrible.
And she was getting on her plane and going to Africa. And they were like knocking on the door going, Oprah has got to get to Africa. Oprah has got to get to Africa. The children are waiting for her.
And I'm like, oh my God, my hose are running.
It was stupid.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: So then when I walked out, I couldn't walk out crying, so I was like, huh.
KING: Now that would have been a good reality show.
ALLEY: Oh God, it would have been a train wreck.
KING: Backstage.
Now why did you start gaining weight after that?
You looked very good.
ALLEY: Well, I don't know, Larry.
Why does an alchy start drinking again?
Because they think they can and they think -- I think it has to do with irresponsibility. I think it has to do with wanting -- and I mean this in the true sense and not in a pun sense -- but wanting your cake and eat it, too, because that's the story of my life. I wanted it when I did drugs. I wanted to do drugs and have no ill effects.
When I smoked, I wanted to be able to run five miles a day smoking cigarettes and have no ill effects.
And the physical universe just doesn't sort of work like that. Thank God I'm not an alcoholic or a sexaholic, because I would have slept with 20,000 people and I would be puffy.
KING: (INAUDIBLE)...
ALLEY: You know, I look sort of good. I'm not puffy, you know.
KING: You'd have been a female Tiger Woods.
ALLEY: A tigress.
KING: A tigress.
ALLEY: That's right.
KING: Your questions for Kirstie are coming up so don't...
ALLEY: Oh no, questions?
KING: So don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "KIRSTIE ALLEY'S BIG LIFE," COURTESY A&E)
ALLEY: You're going to look really good when we're standing. You're going to look like an athlete.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is it. Cut.
ALLEY: I can't stop. I just feel like I'm maybe -- that's it. I'm so ashamed. I can't believe it. It hurts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It's always great having her with us because she's one of the great guests of all time, because there is no cut-off switch, I've yet to hear, which is what we love.
Lenny Bruce once told me, how -- is there a good side -- isn't -- there must be a good side to being addicted?
Because when you're addicted, right, you're addicted...
ALLEY: I think the good side is when you...
KING: Because there must be a good side to drugs.
ALLEY: Here's the good side of cocaine.
(MAKES SNIFFING NOISE)
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: That's true.
ALLEY: Everything after that -- bad.
KING: Bad. OK. And here's a Twitter question.
ALLEY: Yow.
KING: I know you use Twitter a lot...
ALLEY: Oh, I'm a Twitter-holic.
KING: -- and we received a whole bunch of questions tweeted to Kings Things for me to ask you.
One is: "Have you tried being a vegetarian?," you know, a vegan?
ALLEY: I -- I have not tried being a vegan, but I've been a vegetarian for, you know, different stints of three years, two years, things like that. I was raised in Kansas, very meat and potatoes. But I like being a vegetarian. I don't know -- I don't know if I can sustain it throughout my whole life.
KING: You are now a vegetarian?
ALLEY: No. I'm not being a vegetarian right now. I also agree with it more morally in regards -- you know, I love animals and I have so many animals. And morally, I think it's -- I think it's better for the planet. I think it's better all the way around.
KING: Right. An animal died for you to eat it, right? ALLEY: Yes.
KING: (INAUDIBLE).
ALLEY: And an animal died -- you know, it makes it so -- it's like we have assassins out there. It's like -- if someone said, Kirstie, you have to go kill this to eat it, I would definitely be a vegetarian. I wouldn't be a vegan, because I would take good care of my chickens and be sweet to them and they would have eggs and I would eat their eggs.
KING: Good point.
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: What do you say to the idea that over-eating is a symptom of an emotional problem, that food is replacing some sort of empty feeling?
ALLEY: I'd say to that person, fuck you. You think I've got a problem emotionally, like that.
KING: But at any rate, but you don't -- you don't buy all these super psychological...
ALLEY: I don't buy the super psychological. I buy the spiritual. I honest to God feel that the spiritual journey of a person has a lot to do with addiction. I'd buy that.
KING: Wait a minute. Hold it.
The spiritual journey is an addiction in itself?
ALLEY: No. I believe that -- I believe that problems with addiction and compulsions are of the spirit. I don't believe you have some gene that says, hi, I'm the fat gene or like, hi, I'm the I want to have too much sex gene.
KING: There's a contradiction here. Your faith, Scientology...
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: -- might have the best record in America of getting people off drugs.
ALLEY: That's true.
KING: Why haven't they helped you with weight addiction?
ALLEY: I don't know. That's a good question.
KING: That's why...
ALLEY: Let me call them and ask them.
KING: That's why I asked it. I mean you're...
ALLEY: They have helped me.
KING: You're a member of the faith.
ALLEY: They have helped me. Scientology has helped me with what -- first of all, let's look at the overall picture. I've been fat for three years of my life, maybe four.
KING: That's all?
ALLEY: That's it. And I'm 59. So out of 59 years, 55 were thin. So I'm not saying -- but I'm saying of the spirit, when something happens to you, you -- and I'm telling you my spiritual problem is I don't want to be accountable for certain things.
Now someone could say that's psychological, but I think it's spiritual.
KING: And your faith has helped?
ALLEY: Oh, yes. God knows what I'd be if I hadn't changed the things that I have changed.
KING: The model, Kate Moss, famous for her waifish figure, I think we might say...
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: -- has said she lives by this motto, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: Agree with that?
ALLEY: There's a million things that feel better than skinny feels -- children, holding babies, looking at animals...
KING: A Snickers bar tastes better than looking trim?
ALLEY: Oh, when you're talking about food...
KING: Right.
ALLEY: It tastes as good as -- well, let me think about it. Nothings tastes as good as skinny feels. You know, that's one of those sayings where sometimes it does taste better.
KING: Really?
ALLEY: Of course.
KING: Yes, good.
By the way, you're 59?
ALLEY: Yes, I am.
I look good, don't I?
KING: You look fantastic.
ALLEY: Thank you.
And I don't have a blank pill (ph)...
KING: No plastic surgery?
ALLEY: No, I don't.
KING: No plastic -- but I know you. You're on...
ALLEY: No. That's what I'm saying. That's why I was lucky I never got into the booze, because if I had been addicted to alcohol, God knows what I'd be looking like.
KING: Valerie Bertinelli followed you as the Jenny Craig spokesperson.
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: Do you have a relationship with her?
ALLEY: I do. I love her. I think that she is an amazing person. I think she's one of those people that has -- I love people who create transformations in themselves. And I like people who keep changing it up. And nobody is going to have a life that's just woo and you soar along the top unless you're just an airhead.
So people go up and they go down. They have challenges. They have these things in their life. And she's one of those people that resurrected herself.
KING: So you're not jealous of her?
She's (INAUDIBLE)...
ALLEY: Of course I'm jealous of her.
KING: Oh, you are?
ALLEY: Well, yes, I am.
KING: But she slipped all the weight off, she's on TV, she shows off her bikini body.
ALLEY: And her bikini body was amazing. And that made me very jealous. I am jealous of her. I'm jealous that she's kept the weight off. She is much more sane in the area, I think, than me.
KING: All right. Don't -- don't forget, this show starts March 21st. It's "Kirstie Alley's Big Life." She has a new weight loss program.
I have to ask this -- I don't mean this disparagingly.
Is she the best person to sell you on a diet?
That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "KIRSTIE ALLEY'S BIG LIFE," COURTESY A&E)
ALLEY: So Jim and I are chubby buddies. We're going to do this together. And we're looking for a trainer that fits us both, basically. It's all up here -- all up here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I personally had weight issues growing up.
ALLEY: You were a big old fatty boy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been fat.
ALLEY: What kind of training things do you do?
What do you do to keep it fun?
Haven't you ever done leg squats?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we could have some fun and maybe turn some things around.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're looking forward to Kirstie Alley's new reality show.
Another tweet to Kings Things.
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: "Ask Kirstie if she feels discriminated against because of her weight."
ALLEY: No, I don't feel discriminated against.
Is that the word, "discrimin-inated?"
KING: Yes.
ALLEY: Did I put too many "in-in-inates" in it?
KING: It's all right. It don't matter.
ALLEY: Whatever, I'm drunk. Hold on.
KING: Me, too. ALLEY: Yes. Well, it makes it easier.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: I don't feel -- it depends on how you -- you think about it. You know, I -- I do become the object of certain late night talk show hosts' jokes. And that's a little bit weird, because you're used to doing their shows. And, you know, I sort of always go, like, you know, why are -- why am I that and these other fat girls aren't that?
Or how about the fat guys?
Why aren't we doing fat guy jokes?
KING: Because you're you, maybe.
ALLEY: I think it is.
KING: They know you're going to take a joke, right?
ALLEY: No. I think it's because I'm so damn pretty, Larry.
KING: That might be it. You are damn pretty.
ALLEY: I know. I think it's because I'm so pretty and they just want to pick on pretty girls.
KING: Right. You -- in the days of "Cheers"...
ALLEY: Yes.
KING: -- you were drop-dead gorgeous.
ALLEY: Well, I didn't know it. But thank you. That's nice.
KING: You were every person's -- every male person's wish/fantasy.
ALLEY: I wish I'd known that, because I -- I just never realized that.
KING: Come on, you were a fantasy wish.
ALLEY: Well, Larry.
KING: All right. Look at this...
ALLEY: For God sakes, I'm so happy you're saying that.
KING: Tabloids have been pretty harsh in their coverage of struggles with you and your weight. Yes -- look, when you go to a store and see the pictures and the headlines -- look at this: "240: Collapses," "Fired for Being Too Fat," "250," oh, the "National Enquirer" changed your weight 10 pounds.
ALLEY: I get -- I get fatter by the day, come on. KING: Two hundred and fifty pounds.
ALLEY: I usually weigh 300. I'm usually close to 300.
KING: "Kirstie Alley: Four Years to Live."
I'm going to check the date of this.
ALLEY: Do I have time to finish the show, Larry?
KING: It doesn't have a date on it.
ALLEY: Well, that's why I'm feeling a little bit...
KING: Hold it.
ALLEY: -- worried.
KING: August 2009. You've got three more years.
ALLEY: Oh good. Good, good, good.
KING: Oh, she's 265 pounds.
ALLEY: Oh my God.
KING: "The Enquirer" keeps increasing...
ALLEY: What am I doing -- and I'm...
KING: I think they increase circulation as you gain weight.
ALLEY: I do, too. I do, too.
KING: You collapsed. That forced to get help. You went to a fat farm.
Did you ever go to a fat farm?
ALLEY: Well, if you call Cal-a-Vie a fat farm.
KING: What is Cal-a-Vie?
ALLEY: It's a very swanky spa.
KING: Two hundred sixty, yes, checks into cat farm -- fat farm, cat farm.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: What...
ALLEY: I'd rather go to a cat farm.
KING: What do they do at a fat farm?
ALLEY: They don't.
KING: What did they do when you went there?
ALLEY: Well, I have never been to a real fat farm. But what I -- I like to go to places where I get pampered and I can work out a lot. Because in my life, if I'm home, I don't get a chance to work out five hours a day.
KING: What do you think when you see this, which we might call little?
ALLEY: It depends on the days. Some days I'm pissed. Some days I think it's hysterical. Some days I get upset. The most upsetting thing to me is if my dad calls me and says, did you collapse?
KING: Yes.
ALLEY: And I say, no, I didn't collapse.
KING: How much of what they write is true?
ALLEY: Oh, 10 percent.
KING: So isn't that hard to live with once you were -- do you ever want to sue?
ALLEY: I do want to sue, but in the United States, unfortunately, the law is, it doesn't have to be true, it just has to have come from a source. You won't see these stories about me in the U.K. Because in the U.K. The story has to be true.
KING: You can't do that. That's right. Correct.
ALLEY: So you won't see she weighs this, she weighs that, I mean, it's bullshit and I don't, but whatever.
KING: How about the paparazzi?
You are a paparazzi favorite, are you not?
ALLEY: I'm their dream girl.
KING: And why do you think that is?
ALLEY: I don't know, because I've been their dream girl since day one. I've always been shot by...
KING: Yes, when you were slim.
It had nothing to do with fat?
ALLEY: No -- well, let's say this, in the beginning, when they said I was fat, let's say I weighed -- I started out at 114 and I weighed 125, they'd say I was fat. You know, fat, that I would boatload in from Switzerland tons of chocolate, that I owned a train, that I would bring the -- I would bring the chocolate with me on the train cross-country, you know.
KING: Do you cooperate with the -- do you like them, the paparazzi?
ALLEY: No, I hate them, Larry.
KING: Yes.
ALLEY: I hate them.
KING: They're -- they're ma -- they're kind of malicious.
ALLEY: This is one, I -- you know what, I'm not going to say that 100 percent. This is how -- when I think they have a place. We saw that -- they have a place at the Oscars. They have a place if you go to The Ivy or if you go to Mr. Chow's, you know that at certain places, when you walk out the door, the paparazzi is going to be there.
I think that's fair game. I think it's fair game at the Oscars or any award show or anything like that. Where it's not fair game is when they're filming -- and now --
KING: It's not fair game in front of your house.
ALLEY: -- the big problem is they're filming. So they're filming me taking my kids to school. And when my kids get out, they know if that camera is beaded in on my children, I'll go berserk And then they get the "Kirstie goes berserk" shot. And I'm not berserk because I'm fat, I'm berserk because they're shooting my kid and I'm like, what are you doing! And that's the shot they want.
KING: Have you ever done like an Alec Baldwin and thrown things? Sean Penn hit someone?
ALLEY: You know, I haven't. I have -- because that's what they're really looking for because they really want -- they want to be able to sue you.
KING: There are some celebrities who call them and tell them where they're going, right?
ALLEY: I don't know those people. But probably, if they want that kind of promotion. I just --
KING: Yes, weird.
Kirstie Alley, the new show starts Sunday, March 21st. Right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Kirstie Alley, one of our favorite people. Her show, "Kirstie Alley's Big Life" premieres Sunday, March 21st on A&E. She has launched a new weight-loss program called Organic Liaison. It includes products with names like "Rescue Me." Here is part of an animated commercial, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: All right. That's adorable. Why animation? Who came up with that?
ALLEY: Well, I came up with that. And I came up with that because, you know, when I did this -- when I decided to do this show, I wanted to chronicle my weight-loss, and I wanted to chronicle the journey, because it is a journey. We see shows on TV where people lose 12 pounds a week and they're working out seven hours a day and they're living in a camp.
Well, that's not the way my life is and most people's lives. So I wanted to have my show chronicle my weight loss. And because of that, when we started, you know, I started this show when I fat, then I wanted to chronicle my weight loss and make me skinny. But I wasn't skinny yet, so I had to do it in a cartoon form. Does that make sense?
KING: Yes, it makes a lot of sense. Cute idea.
ALLEY: Yes, and it was funny.
KING: What is Organic Liaison?
ALLEY: Organic Liaison is the first USDA-certified organic weight-loss program. And I created it out of necessity because I --
KING: Despair, maybe.
ALLEY: No, necessity. Everyone wants people to be depressed. I'm not in despair. But I knew that I need to have something. The two things that are hard for me that weren't hard the rest of my life were craving, especially sugar and fat, and eating too much food.
And I have eaten so much food my whole life. And it didn't have a fat effect on me. So I had to change something drastically and find -- I had to create something for myself so that I didn't crave. So I set about this -- this journey of finding -- you know, creating these problems, finding things that really worked. I can't have caffeine or things that speed me up.
So it had to be really healthy. Then we set about the journey of making things -- this product organic, which was --
KING: What is the product?
ALLEY: It's called "Rescue Me." And it's a weight-loss elixir. And everything in it is basically organic. And that's a much harder journey than people think. You're -- the place that makes your product has to be organically certified. All your products have to be organically certified.
KING: This is a mix, it goes into -- you mix it with a drink or --
ALLEY: You mix it with water and you drink this throughout the day and it makes you not -- you drink it throughout the day and it makes you not crave.
KING: You drink it like 10 times a day?
ALLEY: You drink it sort of throughout the day. You just keep filling this bottle up with more water, but you keep it -- and it keeps your blood sugar level pretty even. But it makes you actually not crave. And it makes you actually not that hungry.
And then -- and our motto is that we're supporting your body 24- 7. Our next product is called "Release Me," that's calcium magnesium. You can't really -- it doesn't really work to put calcium in your body without magnesium.
KING: How long have you been using it?
ALLEY: I have been using it for -- I started using it the week before Christmas.
KING: Oh, so it's relatively new.
ALLEY: It is new. I piloted it before. And I started losing weight really fast because I was supposed to start filming my show six months before I filmed my show.
KING: Ah.
ALLEY: And so I was waiting to be thin.
KING: All right. You're not a doctor, you're not a nutritionist.
ALLEY: I am a doctor, that's what most people don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEY: Totally kidding. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a nutritionist, but they're readily available out there to give their expertise.
KING: Your doctors support this program.
ALLEY: The doctors that we have, yes. The doctors -- I haven't asked any other doctors. We have an organic specialist. We have a doctor. We have a nutritionist.
KING: Where do I get these products? ALLEY: You get them at organicliaison.com.
KING: Oh. That's the only place now.
ALLEY: That's the only place you can get it now. We have a lot of people that want it, but for right now, that's where you get it.
KING: Organicliaison.com.
ALLEY: That's right.
KING: As we have seen, Kirstie's kids are part of her new show. Her choice or theirs? Talk about her love life.
ALLEY: God, that will be a short segment.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Kirstie Alley, her show premieres March 21st on A&E.
Why the use of kids?
ALLEY: Why what?
KING: Why are your children on?
ALLEY: My children are on because they came to me and they -- this is before the show.
KING: They're how old?
ALLEY: Fifteen and 17. They said they wanted to get jobs. So I had that in the hopper. I said, let me think about that because they're both still in high school, and I said, let me think about that, how that will go down.
And then my show had many incarnations of how it would actually end up being. And so I just said to the producers -- Freemantle produces the show, and it's on A&E. But Freemantle produces it. And I said, what if my kids were willing to do this, do you want a show with my kids in it?
And they said, oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, you know, everybody wants a show with kids in it. So I said to them, do you want to be on TV? And they said, well, do we get paid? And I said yes. They said, we're in.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Well, said.
All right. Another tweet to "King's Things": "Please ask Kirstie if she is concerned about the effects yo-yo dieting can have on her heart and other organs."
Does shorten your life, don't you think?
ALLEY: You know, I don't know that. I'm sure it does. I don't know that for a fact, but do I think about it very much? Apparently not. But I do know this, this is my last time being fat, so take a good look, because after -- this is the last time you're going to see me fat.
KING: Right. So when you go back to being not only beautiful, which you are, but svelte, what is going to happen to your love life?
ALLEY: I'm going to get laid every hour on the hour, is what I'm thinking, what I'm hoping.
KING: I don't think it will be a problem.
ALLEY: Thank you.
KING: Are you going with anyone now?
ALLEY: No, I'm not.
KING: Why not?
ALLEY: I actually -- everyone is very interested in me having a love life except me. I've --
KING: You don't care.
ALLEY: No, because I've been with someone since I was 15 years old. I've always had a boyfriend or a husband or something, you know. So I -- this is the first time in my life since I was 15 that I had time to do what I wanted to do. I did not want help or opinions raising my children. I have a feeling that soon when they're out of the house -- except my son, since he's going to live there until he is 30, because it will be more economical, and why get a house when I have a big one, that's what he says.
Anyway, I have a feeling they will be going out on -- you know, on their own, and that will give me time to decide if I want to be with someone. But people are idiots, I mean, you know that. How many women do you meet that you want to have as your wife?
KING: Oh, you're not kidding. Do you miss sexuality? Do you miss --
ALLEY: I don't miss sexuality. And that -- if I was in love with someone, you know, I'd want to bang their brains out. If I'm not in love with someone, I don't care. It's not something I think about or dream about, oh I wish. I know that I could go get laid any day of the week. So it's not -- I don't have this anxiety about it.
I just -- and I believe that that sublimate those kind of creations into other things when you're not with someone you love. I'm not promiscuous. I don't aspire to be promiscuous. KING: Never were.
ALLEY: Never was. And I don't aspire to be promiscuous. It's one of the things in my life that I'm not addicted to. But it's something that, of course, I love and I do want to be in love with someone else in my life.
KING: You miss being in love.
ALLEY: I miss being in love. I miss missing someone and being in love with someone and waiting for them to call.
KING: But it's also being hurt when they don't call.
ALLEY: Oh, they'll call.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Have you been hurt?
ALLEY: I have been hurt.
KING: You've been dumped?
ALLEY: I've been dumped, once. And I think just by the act of being dumped -- it's very offensive, I've always been a dumper.
KING: Oh, yes.
ALLEY: So when --
KING: (INAUDIBLE) dumpee.
ALLEY: When you get to be the dumpee, you're like, oh, damn, you do believe in karma then.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: More of Kirstie after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
KING: We're back with Kirstie Alley. Her show debuts Sunday, March 21st.
When was the last time you went on a date?
ALLEY: What?
KING: A date.
ALLEY: A date.
KING: Hello, this is Phil. Hi, Kirstie. What are you doing Saturday night? Would you like to go to dinner? That.
ALLEY: I went on a date about four months ago -- sort of a date. I won't do a date-date, because I don't want to waste my time. If I meet someone and I think there's a potential to fall in love with them, I'll spend the time. But I don't even want to spend two hours with some dude that I have no interest in.
KING: So you blow it off like at the salad?
ALLEY: I blow it off before the salad. You know, I went with this one guy -- and this is a big mistake, by the way. I sat in a restaurant, and my children were across the restaurant because we were out of town. And they're watching my every move, right? And I look over and my daughter goes --
Now how do you turn around and look at the guy again? You go, uh-huh, mm-hmm, yes.
So that didn't work, so I won't be taking my children. And I thought the children were over there, because I said, you know, I'm sort of checking on you, you know? And I said it will also be my excuse.
KING: What do you want in a man?
ALLEY: I want someone who is really funny. I want someone who has dough. I've never been the dough girl --
KING: Got to have money.
ALLEY: Yes. Because you know what, women who make money are threats to men who don't make money. And that always causes a big problem. So I want some guy who is happy --
KING: Has more money than you.
ALLEY: Oh yes, way more.
I want -- but I want the guy to be happy in his own life and love what he does and be really interesting. I'm not the girl that brings -- two go together and make one. I don't want to be one, I want to be two. I want to be two fabulous people that go together and then you're like, oh, my God, these people are amazing.
KING: Have you had that?
ALLEY: I've had moments of that. I think that most of my relationship didn't work out because of me. I --
KING: Wow.
ALLEY: Because I think that I -- I'm one of the -- I'm a gypsy and I'm sort of a seeker and I'm -- I want to know what's on the other side of the fence and, you know, the grass is greener. And I'm one of those people and I don't think that it's necessarily -- and I like to change. I like people to want -- I like people -- like I like a guy to say, I want to change this and this and this and that. And then I want to watch him change.
KING: Were you a good mate?
ALLEY: I think that I have good qualities in a certain way. I think that I'm a good provider. Oh my God, I think that I -- I think that I'm a really --
KING: A male term.
ALLEY: -- good sexual mate for one year.
KING: Then what happens?
ALLEY: Then I'm like, I'm out of here. I'm like --
KING: You're good in bed, is what you're saying.
ALLEY: No, I didn't say I was good in bed. I said that I was --
KING: You're a good sexual mate.
ALLEY: I said a good a sexual mate meaning, you know, I'm down for whatever. It's like, this is going to be fun, yes, yes, yes.
KING: I see.
ALLEY: And then after a year, I'm a little like, hmm, you know?
KING: Uninhibited. You're uninhibited?
ALLEY: Yes. But I'm a little bit like mezzo (ph) on the dude, sort of.
KING: OK. All right. Word is you had a surprise reunion with John Travolta, your friend, around the time of your birthday, true?
ALLEY: Yes, it's true.
KING: How close are you?
ALLEY: We are one -- I'm kidding. We're -- John and I are best friends. He is my best guy-friend and Kelly is my best girlfriend.
KING: When he -- when they lost their boy, were you there for them?
ALLEY: I was. I was.
KING: Terrible time.
ALLEY: Terrible time. Terrible -- a parent's worst nightmare.
KING: Did your faith -- his faith, Scientology, help during that period?
ALLEY: You would have to ask him -- KING: Do you think it helped?
ALLEY: -- what helped him. Of course I do. Of course I do.
I think that when those kids of things happen, your faith is all you have. And I don't know how long you only have that, but that's all you have.
KING: Do you ever doubt it?
ALLEY: Doubt my faith?
KING: Yes.
ALLEY: No, because my faith is based on what is true for me is true.
KING: Of course, that New York Times article, I'm sure you saw it, say that people can't even leave Scientology. They hold you to it. They threaten.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: You can leave?
ALLEY: I've never -- I have seen thousands of people not be Scientologists anymore. So I presuming they let people out.
KING: We'll be back -- the show premieres the 21st of March on A&E. We have one segment left, wish we had more.
ALLEY: We're having fun.
KING: What is Kirstie going to look like a year from now? Her prediction after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: And we're about running out of time. So quickly, what are you going to look like in a year? Going to be drastically changed?
ALLEY: What I'm going to look like in a year is, you're going to -- it's going to be hard to see because I'm going to be laying on my back and Jamie Foxx is going to be covering me.
KING: Now wait a minute, you have no desire for sex, no interest in sex, don't want to be --
ALLEY: I didn't say I had no desire for sex. That I have no interest right now -- I don't sit around thinking about sex.
KING: If Jamie Foxx called, you would do what?
ALLEY: I would do whatever Mr. Foxx wanted me to do. I am his servant.
KING: All right. What is the attraction to Jamie Foxx?
ALLEY: He's smart and he's talented, and I'm not really looking for -- you know, he's sort of a player, I sort of like that. Now I'm not looking -- you know, I think that I need a stepping stone. I need an affair.
KING: Are you saying that if Jamie Foxx were to knock on your door, you would have an affair with him almost immediately?
ALLEY: If not sooner.
KING: If not sooner.
ALLEY: Mm-hmm.
KING: Have you met him?
ALLEY: I know him pretty well.
KING: How well?
ALLEY: I haven't had an affair with him, but Jamie used to come in my dressing room years ago and sort of flirt with me. And then I was sort of flattered. And I would walk off and I'd be waddle, waddle, waddle, you know, like, oh, what is this walking out the door, Jamie?
And so then years and years went by and I started just watching -- admiring his work. That's the thing for me, I've got to really admire somebody's work.
KING: He is amazing.
ALLEY: He is amazing. And people say, well, he's not going to marry you. Well, that -- marriage isn't really what I'm looking for over there.
KING: But do you regret not having taken him up on the flirtation a while back?
ALLEY: No. Because I had a boyfriend.
KING: But you still sort of dug him at the same time.
ALLEY: Well, I dug the attention. I like the attention that he was giving me. But, you know, I was a little flirty. Is that wrong, Larry?
KING: No.
ALLEY: It's a little wrong.
KING: Thanks, Kirstie.
ALLEY: Thank you. KING: "Kirstie's Big Life" -- "Kirstie Alley's Big Life," Sunday, March 21st on A&E. Thanks for watching. It's that time of night. "AC 360" starts right now.
