Kirstie Alley’s Children Honor Their Late Mother With A Touching Tribute
“As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother,” the siblings said.
Actor Kirstie Alley died this week at the age of 71 after a short battle with colon cancer. She survived by her two children — True, 30, and Lillie, 28. A statement from the children confirmed the news on Monday.
The kids statement was a touching tribute to their mother who they described as their “incredible, fierce and loving mother.” They wrote that the It Takes Two actress had been receiving treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, prior to her passing.
“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 said in their statement.
Alley’s kids also shared how their mother lived with “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.”
The statement concluded with the siblings thanking Alley's fans, writing, “We thank you for your love and prayers and ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, True and Lillie said their mother had been diagnosed with cancer “only recently.”
Alley became a mom in 1992 when she adopted True with her ex-husband, Peter Stevenson. In. 1994, they became a family of four with the addition of their daughter, Lillie.
“My best quality is that I'm a good mother,” Alley told PEOPLE in 2006.
In 2016, the Look Who’s Talking actress became a first-time grandmother after her son True welcomed his own son. “When your son has a son … bliss … yes this is my secret happy news as promised … Welcome Waylon Tripp Parker," she tweeted along with a photo of True holding his newborn on his chest.
Alley became a grandmother for the second time in 2021 when Lillie welcomed her first child — a son named Ripp Woodrow Graham.
Alley noted that being a grandmother was one of the best things in her life, telling PEOPLE in 2016 that it was “in the top three best things that has ever happened” to her.
“Friends used to show pictures of their grandkids and I'd be like, ‘Yeah yeah they're [cute]’ or whatever.' Now I'm totally that grandmother.”
