Kelsey Grammer is remembering his former Cheers co-star Kirstie Alley just a few days after her unexpected passing. Grammer, who referred to Alley as a “lovely person,” in a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, revealed that she helped him through his legal woes and substance abuse issues while they were filming the hit sitcom.
Grammer, who played Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcom, starred alongside Alley’s Rebecca Howe, who appeared on the show for five years, beginning in 1987 and ending in 1993.
“I always felt close to her. She was very supportive of me back in the Cheers days when I was having a bit of an issue with drugs and the law, so to speak,” Grammer said of his co-star. “But other than that, I just got a kick out of her.”
Grammer, who opened up in 2017 about the tragic deaths in his family which led to him coping with drugs and alcohol, was arrested in 1987 for a DUI and again one year later for possession of cocaine while driving.
Before his sentencing in 1990 for violating his probation, Alley attempted to change the judge’s mind as she revealed her mother had been killed by a drunk driver, and asked that Grammer participate in an educational program in place of serving jail time. He went on to serve 14 days of the 30-day sentence.
Grammer joined Cheers at the start of its third season in 1984, just three years before Alley made her debut on the show. The actor only had positive things to say about his former co-star, who died at 71 years old from a battle with colon cancer.
“When she joined Cheers, I thought to myself, ‘Well, this is a show. It’s gonna become more popular than it was before,'” Grammer told Yahoo. “She came in, and she had such energy and such beauty as well, natural qualities that made her a lovely person as well as a nice girl to look at, you know, which was still something that we cared about then.”
He continued, “Without embarrassment, yeah, I thought she was a really beautiful woman and she was delightful along with it. And that’s a rare combination. And she just always, always kept things alive and bubbly and creative.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the SAMHSA substance abuse 24/7 helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
