A lifelong bond. John Travolta gave a touching tribute to his Look Who’s Talking costar Kirstie Alley following her death on Monday, December 5.
“Kirstie was one of the most special relationships I’ve ever had,” Travolta, 68, wrote via Instagram following her passing. “I love you Kirstie. I know we will see each other again.” The actor also posted a clip of the pair’s dance sequence from the 1989 film to his Instagram Stories.
Travolta and Alley played James and Mollie Ubriacco, respectively, in the beloved movie, which was directed by Amy Heckerling. The story follows Mollie, a single, career-minded woman who becomes pregnant after having an affair with a married man (George Segal) before finding love with Travolta’s James.
While the film received mixed reviews from critics, it was a surprise box office hit, garnering a total of $140 million and staying at No. 1 for five consecutive weekends. The movie went on to spawn two follow-up sequels including 1990’s Look Who’s Talking Too and Look Who’s Talking Now in 1993.
Following the success of their franchise, the Grease star and Cheers actress formed a lifelong friendship, with Travolta telling Us Weekly in August 2019 that he considered Alley his “best girlfriend.”
“She’s my soulmate,” he teased to Us at the time.
When asked if he would be interested in starring in a Look Who’s Talking reboot, the Pulp Fiction star said he’d be down — only if he can work with Alley again.
“It’s been 30 years [since Look Who’s Talking], but it was this morning that I even learned it’s been 30 years. I didn’t know that,” he said. “I would do anything with Kirstie. So let’s see what happens.”
Alley, for her part, echoed Travolta’s sentiment regarding their close relationship. During an August 2018 episode of Celebrity Big Brother U.K., Alley revealed that her relationship with Travolta after Look Who’s Talking was more than an on-screen romance. The Drop Dead Gorgeous star shared that she would have wed the New Jersey native if she wasn’t already married to Baywatch actor Parker Stevenson at the time. (The pair were married for 14 years before calling it quits for good in 1997.)
“I almost ran off and married John,” she said. “I did love him. I still love him. If I hadn’t [have] been married, I would have gone and married him.”
The Dancing With the Stars alum suggested that her nuptials to Travolta wouldn’t be any ordinary wedding either.
“It would have been in an airplane,” she said. “Because he has his own. And let me tell you girls, it doesn’t seem like it’s important that someone has a private jet, but it is. As you get older, you do not want to hang out in airports.”
John Travolta and Kirstie Alley Shutterstock (2)
The two-time Emmy winner admitted that it wasn’t hard to fall in love with Travolta at the time, considering how many months they spent together.
“When you get on the road and you’re doing a movie, it’s very easy to fall in love with your leading man,” she confessed. “For a year, you’re around this person. … It’s just hard, I think.”
Alley’s death was confirmed on Monday by her two children, William True Stevenson, 30, and Lillie Stevenson, 28, whom she shares with the Longmire alum, 70.
“We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered,” they shared in a letter via Alley’s Instagram on Monday evening. “She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead. As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”
They continued, “The went on to thank her medical caregivers. “We are grateful to the incredible team of doctors and nurses at the Moffitt Cancer Center for their care. Our mother’s zest and passion for life, her children, grandchildren and her many animals, not to mention her eternal joy of creating, were unparalleled and leave us inspired to live life to the fullest just as she did.”
They concluded by asking that fans “respect our privacy at this difficult time.”
Alley is survived by three grandkids, as well as her two children. Prior to her marriage with the GreenHouse Academy alum, Alley tied the knot with high school sweetheart Bob Alley and the two were married from 1970 to 1977.
Travolta, for his part, tied the knot with late wife Kelly Preston in 1991. In July 2020, the Jerry Maguire star died at the age of 57 at her home in Clearwater, Florida, two years after she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The couple have three children together: daughter Ella, 19, son Benjamin, 8, and son Jett, who died of a seizure in 2009 at the age of 16.