Shelley Lengthy was noticeably absent when a number of of her Cheers costars reunited on the Emmy Awards in 2024.
Lengthy has all the time had a contentious relationship with the NBC sitcom that made her a family title. Amid rumors of stress with costar Ted Danson, Lengthy stop Cheers in 1987, even after successful an Emmy and two Golden Globes for enjoying Diane Chambers within the NBC sitcom’s first 5 seasons.
There have been limitless rumors over time about why Lengthy left the present. For his half, Danson admitted on the “Smartless” podcast in 2024 that he and Lengthy genuinely didn’t get alongside when cameras weren’t rolling.
“My first response to Shelley whereas we had been auditioning was, ‘Oh, no. No. That’s a nasty, dangerous thought,’” he recalled.
Recalling that his first interactions with Lengthy had been “horrible,” Danson defined: “I don’t know, we had been so totally different. Our types, our method, our every little thing is actually totally different, which is why I believe it labored as a result of it was like this truthful combat.”
“It was arduous for us generally to be within the room collectively,” he conceded. “However after we began working, it was simply implausible since you’d smack her and she or he’d smack you again more durable. She was simply good.”
Lengthy conceded in a 1995 interview that she was disenchanted that Cheers — and her exit from the present — generally overshadowed different elements of her profession.
Shelly Lengthy, Ted Danson,George Wendt, Rhea Perlman, Nicholas Colasanto, John Ratzenberger in ‘Cheers.’ Everett Assortment
“I’ve by no means regretted the choice [to leave Cheers],” she insisted. “I’ve been irritated by the feedback and the fixed questions of, ‘Do you remorse? Do you ever remorse?’ … I don’t remorse it. I’ve mentioned it over and over.”
Lengthy defined that her major cause for leaving Cheers on the peak of the present’s reputation was that she “sincerely” wished extra time along with her household.
“I’ll without end treasure [that time with my family],” she added.
Lengthy was married to Ken Solomon early in her profession, earlier than tying the knot with securities dealer Bruce Tyson in 1981. Tyson and Lengthy share one daughter, Juliana, born in March 1985. (Lengthy and Tyson divorced in 2004.)
Lengthy saved busy after leaving Cheers, showing in a string of profitable motion pictures with The Cash Pit, Troop Beverly Hills and The Brady Bunch Film into the Nineteen Nineties.
She made recurring appearances in Fashionable Household as Ed O’Neill’s onscreen ex-wife, DeDe Pritchett. Lengthy appeared in eight Fashionable Household episodes over a nine-year interval. Her character was killed off in a memorable 2018 episode as a option to show “demise is a huge a part of the household expertise,” in accordance with Fashionable Household cocreator Steve Levitan.
“[DeDe was] instantly concerned with three of our characters and she or he touched everyone’s life in some fascinating approach,” the producer defined on the time. “It appeared like the fitting character to place everyone by way of one thing. She appeared like the fitting character as a result of she so instantly impacts so a lot of our characters.”
Talking to ABC Information in 2017, Lengthy mirrored on coming into a brand new part of her profession after taking part in romantic leads for thus lengthy.
“There simply aren’t a variety of roles on the whole, roles for somebody extra particular to my age,” she famous. “I’m sort of within the center, I don’t precisely appear like a grandmother, however I don’t appear like a number one woman within the extra conventional sense … There are a variety of younger grandmothers on the market.”
Shelley Lengthy in November 2017. David Livingston/Getty Pictures
She saved performing into the 2020s, although Lengthy ultimately retreated from public life following the discharge of her 2021 film The Cleaner.
When Emmy producers organized a Cheers forged reunion on the annual gala in September 2024, Lengthy declined to participate with former costars Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger and George Wendt. Grammar later admitted to The New York Put up in January 2024 that he was disenchanted that Lengthy selected to not attend.
“I used to be sorry Shelley didn’t make it,” the Frasier actor mentioned. “However the different guys, it was nice to see them.”
Lengthy remains to be sometimes noticed by photographers in Los Angeles, however has chosen to dwell a quiet life away from the highlight in recent times.
