Kirstie Alley says that before she did "Dancing With the Stars," she felt "complacent" and "broken."
"I know this sounds so pathetic and sort of like a victim but I was a little bit broken." Now, she added, "I'm lucky. I honestly think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world."
Alley sat down with "Good Morning America" lifestyle anchor Lara Spencer for a candid discussion about how her life changed after her appearance and second-place finish on the season 12 of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
Watch Lara Spencer's full interview with Kirstie Alley TONIGHT at 10 p.m. ET on the "20/20" special, "Dance Floor Confidential: Behind the Scenes of 'Dancing With the Stars.'"
No life change was more apparent than Alley's dramatic weight loss. The Kansas native skyrocketed to fame in the 1980s on the sitcom "Cheers" and the hit "Look Who's Talking" films. But as Alley began to gain weight, attention shifted away from her talent and onto her growing body.
She became known as a yo-yo dieter extraordinaire, with tabloids chronicling her weight struggles. But she's been a good sport about public criticism: Alley parodied her real-life trials on the fictional 2005 TV series "Fat Actress." On "Dancing With the Stars," she would crack jokes like "If someone told me to haul ass, it would take two trips."
But her experience with "Dancing With the Stars" may put an end to all the jokes. Alley started shedding pounds during the show and kept it up afterward through her own grassroots fitness campaign, "100 Days of Dance." Participants in the campaign -- including Alley -- were required to dance every day for 100 days.
Alley's total weight loss? 100 pounds.
She said she wouldn't mind losing another 15 pounds but added that she's comfortable in her own skin.
"When I'm at my best, I'm wearing a 6," she said. "When you see yourself pick out the 6 ...you want to wear the tags on the outside of your clothes."
As she was dropping weight, Alley was gaining a confidante: her sexy but demanding dance partner, dance pro Maks Chmerkovskiy.
"Maks is so hardcore. He's brutal. He's charming and brutal at the same time," Alley said. "And so if you can survive Maks, it's exhilarating."
His "hardcore" nature didn't stop Alley from confiding in him in ways that she hadn't with other men, she said.
"My husbands, my lovers, they are not my confidantes, but I would tell Maks everything!" she said. "He would tell me everything, we became like, this very tight relationship."
Exactly how tight? Lara Spencer asked Alley if she ever thought to herself that there might be "more" with Maks. Alley answered in the familiar, bawdy style that's made her so loveable.
"No, I'd think in my head, 'I want to bang you,' " she said.
Watch more with Kirstie Alley tonight at 10 p.m. ET on the "20/20" special "Dance Floor Confidential: Behind the Scenes of 'Dancing With the Stars.'"
