The Woman Who Killed Kirstie Alley's Mom Begs To Meet The Actress
So many levels of inappropriate in this story.
Instagram This obsession with celebrities is getting out of control. You know things have gone too far when a woman kills another woman's mother in a drunk driving accident — and then that woman wants to meet her victim's famous daughter. How low can you go? Who is Kirstie Alley's mom, Lilliane Maxine, and what did the star say when she was presented with this ridiculous request?
Kirstie Alley is an actress that first shot to fame when she starred in the 1980s mainstay show Cheers, opposite Smirnoff spokesman Ted Dansen, Solo star Woody Harrelson, and Frasier star Kelsey Grammar. Since then, she's gone on to star in several movies — most notably, the Look Who's Talking film series, which is getting a modern reboot with a diverse cast — and is enjoying a newfound spate of success with her role on the sitcom, Mom.
But, speaking of her mom, she's currently struggling with the reality that her mother, Lillian Mickie, is gone, thanks to the actions of a drunk driver in 1981. So here's what we know about this tragedy.
1. The accident happened in 1981.
According to CNN, Kirstie Alley's mother — Lillian Maxine, who was known as "Mickie" to her friends and family — was killed in a drunk driving accident. Kirstie's father, Robert, was seriously injured in the crash, but he eventually recovered.
2. Drunk driving laws were not as strict in 1981 as they are today.
Although the first drunk driving laws were passed in New York and New Jersey in the early 20th century, Russman Law reports that by the time the 1960s rolled around, drunk-driving was considered a "folk crime," much like hazing was until recently. In other words, there were many people who did it but few who actually faced penalties for it. It wasn't until 1980 that the laws began to change. At that time, Candy Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) after her 13-year-old daughter was killed in a drunk-driving crash. But it wasn't until the late 1980s that the drunk-driving laws really began to become strict — so when Kirstie Alley's mom was killed, the laws were much laxer than they are today.
3. The killer admitted she killed Kirstie Alley's mom.
"I shouldn't have been driving that night. I had a lot of things on my mind, and I was intoxicated," said Cherrie Glymph to the National Enquirer, who added that she just wanted to get something to eat and drink, but didn't realize she had one too many. As a result, Kirstie Alley's mom was killed. So tragic.
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4. Kirstie Alley said she had a lot of emotional issues after the death of her mother.
Radar reports that it didn't take long for Kirstie Alley to develop a "bully" reputation in Hollywood as a result of her mother's death. It was only much later on, when she dealt with her issues, that she said she started to come to terms with her mother's death.
5. The woman who killed Kirstie Alley's mom said that she wanted to meet the actress.
“I can understand why Kirstie doesn’t want to talk with me,” said White, a retiree who’s now sober and living in Arlington, Texas. “But if she changed her mind, I would tell Kirstie and her father how truly sorry I am for what happened that night and the pain that I caused them," Cherrie said, in a different report for Radar.
6. But Kirstie Alley isn't having it.
In the past, Kirstie Alley said that she has no desire to meet the woman who killed her mother. She's also taken to Twitter, in the past, to go after drunk drivers.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. For more information about Bernadette Giacomazzo, click here.