Kirstie Alley: John Travolta Told Me Not to Do 'DWTS'

Kirstie Alley has been quite open about the fact that competing on Dancing With the Stars gave her her "confidence back" (and a newly slimmed-down body to boot). But in a new interview with Access Hollywood, the 60-year-old former Cheers star confesses that her old friend and Look Who's Talking costar John Travolta initially discouraged her from doing the show.

Alley says, "(John) Travolta said -- he was the first person I went to -- and he said, 'Don't do it, don't do it. Just act, just act.' And my advice was that from everyone, because they just like me to be an actress."

Thankfully, Alley ignored Travolta's advice: "I thought, 'Screw all my (friends). I don't care.' I really don't care what anybody says."

Partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Alley's tenure on DWTS has been fraught with mishaps, and so Alley finally called in the help of... Travolta, the man who had discouraged her from doing the show in the first place.

Travolta, a famoulsy good dancer himself, appeared on the show in a pre-taped segment as Alley's "Dance Doctor," giving Kirstie and Maksim tips and confidence-building measures.

Travolta, of course, defined dance for moviegoers in the late '70s with his brilliant performances in Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Alley says of Travolta, "John just dances naturally. He makes it look easy." And his pointers certainly were appreciated. "John helped us break the curse," Alley says. "John brought levity back into our lives. He helped us keep it light."

And that's exactly what Alley needed. Kirstie tells Access Hollywood, "I'm actually starting to become myself again, which is good. I feel good, I feel sort of like I'm almost back to normal. I don't know where the hell I went for a while... I went on a journey."

As far as America is concerned, Alley is back with a vengeance: She and Chmerkovskiy have danced their way into viewers' hearts -- and into the Dancing with the Stars' top three couples! They'll dance for title on Monday, May 23, and find out if they're the champs on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, Alley has no regrets about her participation on DWTS. "One thing I'm good at is introspection," she says. "And I knew that I had gotten in a bad place -- sort of complacent. I was boring myself, let alone anybody else! I was boring. I was like, 'This will unbore me.' It did unbore me!"

It has "unbored" America as well!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/kirstie-alley-john-travolta-told-me-not-do-dwts/1-a-351651

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