Cheers stars now – sudden death, £25m divorce pay-out and harrowing drug battles

Hit US series Cheers is regarded as one of the best sitcoms of all time.

The show, based around a bar in Boston, first aired in 1982 and ran for 11 seasons, giving fans a whopping 275 episodes aired until coming off air in 1993.

Scooping 117 Emmy Award nominations with 28 wins, Cheers became one of the biggest shows on TV and shot the likes of Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson and Kirstie Alley into superstardom.

READ MORE: Cheers star Kirstie Alley dies after ‘private battle’ as Travolta says ‘I love you’

Whilst some went on to have big success in Hollywood after last orders was called for the final time in Cheers, others faced tragedy and scandal.

After the tragic news that Alley has passed away at the age of 71 after battling cancer, Daily Star is taking a look at what the Cheers stars did next…

Ted Danson

By the time Cheers ended, Ted Danson had also begun starring appearing in big-budget movies.

He’s since had major screen success, with roles in hit films such as Pontiac Moon and Saving Private Ryan, and TV shows including Becker, Curb Your Enthusiasm, CSI, Fargo and The Good Place.

But he’s no stranger to scandal.

His first marriage, to actress Randy Gosch, lasted five years, ending in divorce in 1975.

However, it was his second marriage and divorce that saw his name splashed across the US tabloids.

He married producer Cassandra “Casey” Coates in 1977. Two years later, while giving birth to their first daughter, Coates suffered a stroke. He spent several years caring for her and they later adopted a second daughter.

Then in 1993, while still married, Danson became romantically involved with his Made In America co-star Whoopi Goldberg and their affair was exposed in the press.

Coates filed for divorce, reportedly walking away with £25m, making it one of the costliest celebrity settlements ever.

The affair was short-lived and later that year the pair issued a statement, signalling the end of their relationship.

Danson married his third and current wife, actress Mary Steenburgen, in 1995.

An active environmentalist, the 73-year-old has written a book on protecting our oceans and is thought to have destroyed more than 500 outdoor advertising signs during various protests.

In 2019, he was arrested and charged along with actress Jane Fonda at a climate change protest outside the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.

Kelsey Grammer

Professionally, Kelsey Grammer’s life post-Cheers couldn’t have been much better.

Frasier, the spin-off sitcom focusing on his character’s life in Seattle, was hugely successful, running from 1993 to 2004, with more than 250 episodes, and is set to be revived in 2022.

He’s also starred in films including Toy Story 2 and X-Men, as well as in TV shows such as 30 Rock and Back to You.

Sadly, he’s also experienced personal problems, trauma and unimaginable tragedy.

In 1968, when he was 13, his dad Frank was murdered during a home invasion.

Then in 1975, Grammer’s younger sister Karen was abducted, raped and murdered by Freddie Glenn, Michael Corbett and one other man. She was 18. Grammer, then 20, had to identify her body.

Five years later, his two half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident.

Years later, he told how these tragedies, particularly the grisly death of his sister, contributed to issues with drink and drug addiction, which in turn affected his relationships.

Grammer has been married four times and has seven children. His second marriage, to Leigh-Anne Csuhany, in 1992, lasted one year. He filed for an annulment when Csuhany was pregnant and evicted her from their home.

The pregnancy ended in a miscarriage and Grammer later claimed she had fired a gun at him.

In December 1994, Grammar appeared on the cover of People magazine with his fiancee Tammi Baliszewski, announcing his substance abuse problems. In his words, he had a “love affair” with cocaine.

He married his third wife, Camille Donatacci, in 1997 and the pair remained together until their divorce owing to “irreconcilable differences” in 2011.

Over the years he’s spent time in rehab and even a short stint in jail for drink-driving and cocaine possession. In 2008, he suffered a heart attack while paddleboarding.

Now 66, he’s been married to Kayte Walsh since 2011 and is clean and sober. He credits Christianity with helping him beat his demons.

Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson has come a long way since playing a nice-but-dim bartender in Cheers.

To this day, he remains one of Tinseltown’s biggest and best actors.

Over the past 25 years he’s starred in hit movies including Natural Born Killers, The Hunger Games and Seven Psychopaths.

His life away from the screen, however, has been interesting to say the least.

Harrelson’s dad was convicted hitman Charles Voyde Harrelson, who was jailed for life for the 1979 murder of a federal judge. The actor has told how his father wasn’t around much during his childhood.

He’s an outspoken advocate of the legalisation of hemp and marijuana

In 1996, Harrelson was arrested in Lee County, Kentucky, after he symbolically planted four hemp seeds to challenge the state law which did not distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana.

Having notified the county sheriff of his intention to plant the seeds, he did so on camera and was booked into the county jail. He was released on bail the same day and signed autographs for deputies. He was acquitted of the charges after just 25 minutes.

In 2002 Harrelson was arrested in London after an incident in a taxi that ended in a police chase. Harrelson was taken to a London police station and later released on bail.

In 2008, TMZ photographer Josh Levine filed a lawsuit against Harrelson for an alleged attack outside a Hollywood nightclub in 2006. The case was dismissed in 2010.

Last year, Harrelson received criticism for publicly sharing a report which claimed to discuss the “negative effects of 5G” and its supposed role in the Covid-19 pandemic.

A vegan, self-proclaimed “anarchist” with an interest in theology and chess, Harrelson has been married to Laura Louie since 2008. They have three daughters.

Kirstie Alley

After Cheers, Kirstie Alley had a successful career, appearing in Look Who’s Talking, Veronica’s Closet and The Last Don.

Despite her successful career, she faced just as much interest in her fluctuating weight.

In 2012, she faced a lawsuit alleging false advertising. The action claimed her weight loss, which she had credited to Organic Liaison products, was in fact the result of exercise including training for Dancing With the Stars.

She settled the suit in 2013, agreeing to remove the term “Proven Products” from packaging, issue a disclaimer on the brand’s website that it is a “calorie-based weight-loss product”, and pay $130,000.

She was a member of the Church of Scientology since 1979, reportedly beating a cocaine addiction thanks to a Scientology-affiliated treatment programme.

In May 2000, she bought a waterfront mansion in Clearwater, Florida, from former Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley for $1.5m. It is now the spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology and she donated $5 million to the Church in 2007.

On December 5, 2022, Kirstie’s family issued a statement confirming she had passed away from cancer at the age of 71.

They said: “We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away.

“She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead.

“As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”

Rhea Perlman

Rhea Perlman was a huge hit as wise-cracking waitress Carla in Cheers.

She’s since racked up a long list of appearances in TV shows and had a notable starring role in the 1996 film Matilda, opposite her movie star husband Danny DeVito.

The pair met in 1971, moved in together two weeks later and got married in 1982. They separated in 2012 but reconciled a few months later. They separated again in March 2017.

Perlman, 73, is on record as saying she has no intention of divorcing DeVito, asserting that they have become closer friends than they were in their final years as a couple.

George Wendt and John Ratzenburger

In Cheers, George Wendt and John Ratzenburger played regulars Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin.

Wendt, 72, continued to work after the show ended, with roles in films such as Lakeboat and Wild About Harry, and TV shows including Whose Line is it Anyway? and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

He’s married to Bernadette Birkett with whom he has three children, and he’s also the uncle of actor and comedian Jason Sudeikis.

Ratzenburger, 74, has become best known for his work voicing characters in Pixar movies. These include Hamm in the Toy Story films, Mack the truck in the Cars series and the Abominable Snowman in the Monsters Inc. series.

An entrepreneur of sorts, he also developed SizzlePak, an eco-friendly packaging-alternatives product made from biodegradable and non-toxic recycled paper as a safe alternative to bubble wrap and foam peanuts.

It was manufactured by his company, Eco-Pak Industries, which he co-founded in 1989. In 1992 he sold Eco-Pack to Ranpak Corp.

In 2016, he launched thegiftbox.com, an e-commerce website that allows customers to subscribe to a variety of monthly boxes.

Last year, he announced that he would be offering free advertising and marketing to selected companies hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic through his American Made Advertising company.

He is a vociferous supporter of the Republican party.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk