Kirstie Alley had me at “give it to me in stones. It will sound small.”
Her weight that is. She was standing on a scale, at 5 am in the morning with her two assistants asking them to weigh her. All the while not really wanting to know what she weighed, but forcing herself to do it.
Her new show Big Life, produced by A&E, premieres on March 21 with back to back episodes of hilarity to introduce everyone to the maelstrom that Alley is.
Kirstie Alley has never lacked passion, whether it’s her passion for food or the hatred she bestows onto the paparazzi, the scourge of her earth. She also has never held back expressing herself and this show is no different. Big Life is a loud, boisterous romp through the personal life of Alley and the menagerie that occupies not only her house but the grounds of her beautiful home. I’ll give you a hint: dogs and assistants and lemurs, oh my!
Underneath the seemingly requisite fat jokes she cracks about herself and her “chubby buddy” Jim, there is a obvious undertone of pain and self-disappointment that anyone who themselves has done the yo-yo weight gain/loss cycle can understand and empathize with. Her apparent distress over another “fat” picture on the cover of a tabloid, which we actually witness being taken thanks to the cameras rolling, shatters our perception of her as simply a celebrity face we all know.
We see her as a woman who has battled her weight in the spotlight. As a mom who doesn’t want her children embarrassed by her weight.
And as a caring, kind and funny comedian whose tell-all, bare-all reality show is an entertainment that has to be seen.
Tune in to A&E on March 21st and watch for yourself. But before that, take a sneak peek at the trailer for the show below, just to whet your appetite.