Jessica Alves has opened up about how the late Kirstie Alley took her under her wing on Celebrity Big Brother.
The Cheers actor’s children announced she had died on Monday aged 71 after a battle with colon cancer.
As well as acting in a host of beloved shows and films, the Drop Dead Gorgeous star appeared on reality TV programmes including Dancing with the Stars, The Masked Singer and Celebrity Big Brother.
Alley was runner-up in the 2018 edition of the Channel 5 show, with Ryan Thomas eventually being crowned winner, and bonded with fellow housemate, Alves, 39.
The Brazilian-British TV star has reflected on their stint on the Big Brother spin-off series, revealing Alley was a source of support.
After the juggernaut show ended, Alves said they met up in Milan, adding: ‘She was one of the first people I told that I was transitioning.’
Alves continued: ‘We sat drinking martinis in the Dolce and Gabbana bar and I got tipsy and cried as I confided in her what I was going through.
‘I told her I had really been struggling and she provided a listening ear. We spoke about names about she helped me to choose Jessica which I love,’ she told the MailOnline.
Alves explained her experience on Celebrity Big Brother was ‘difficult’ because she was privately transitioning and on hormones that were making her ‘crazy.’
She said: ‘Kirstie had brought in loads of pairs of Manolo’s [in the Celeb Big Brother house] and she let me try them all on and walk around in them but that was never televised.
‘She was really there for me and was a very positive person.’
Other stars to have paid tribute to Alley include her Cheers co-stars Kelsey Grammer and Rhea Perlman.
Grammer, who played the psychiatrist Frasier Crane alongside Alley in Cheers, added that he loved the actress.
‘I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her,’ he said in a statement to the PA news agency.
In a separate statement, Perlman said she had ‘never met anyone remotely like’ Alley, adding that she would miss her ‘very, very much’.
‘Kirstie was a unique and wonderful person and friend. Her joy of being was boundless,’ the Carla Tortelli star said.
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