Kirstie Alley Says Scientology Makes Parenting Easier

Former Cheers star Kirstie Alley is headed back to the small screen, only this time the mom-of-two will be playing herself. The 59-year-old actress - and her kids William, 17, and Lillie, 15 - are featured in the new A&E reality show Kristie's Big Life, which aims to document her struggle to slim down. Kristie recently chatted to Babble about her parenting philosophy, her famous friend John Travolta and her thoughts on Scientology.

On her biggest parenting challenges: "It hasn’t been particularly challenging. That’s probably where scientology helps a family, because as scientologists we’re taught that you are responsible for what’s going on in your life. And that’s great because kids - especially teenagers - have secrets that they don’t feel like they can tell you. In scientology, we learn to make a space safe for our kids to tell us anything so that the kid knows that he’s not going to get nailed when he tells you. If the kid doesn’t [feel safe], they’ll just draw away from you. So with my kids, sooner or later they’ll come to me and say, 'I smoked a cigarette or I did this…' And I have to bite my tongue and say, 'Okay, I’m glad you told me that' because I am. It keeps you close. So challenge-wise, sometimes my son is a little too brutally honest and it’s too much information, but I’d rather have that than the opposite."

On her parenting philosophy: "To do whatever I have to do to support my children. It’s 100% my responsibility to [release] them into the world with as much knowledge and survival tactics as I possibly can. Also - and maybe this came from being an older mother - just love them! No matter what they do, love them but don’t spoil them and make them into brats - that does them a great disservice. [My kids] aren’t going to be entitled or get anything they want in life; they’re going to earn it."

On whether her daughter feels pressure to be thin: "Being fat’s [not] her goal but being a [specific] weight isn’t her goal either. She’s pretty sane on the subject. Let’s ask her… Lillie, do you feel any pressure?" Lillie: "A little bit but it’s not something I pay attention to a lot. I can see that a lot of my friends do, but I don’t want to do that."

On her "husband" John Travolta: "John’s like he’s my husband, [especially] with financial affairs. He’ll call me out of the blue and say, 'How much do you have in your savings account? If you didn’t work for three years, what would you do?' He’s my sounding board."

On why Scientology is so often criticized: "The only thing that I can come up with is that it’s a new religion; it’s only been around since the fifties. I think people are curious. We think certain things are barbaric like lobotomy, electroshock, unnecessary drugging of people; we’re pretty outspoken about it. There’s a lot of money behind drug companies. But you’d never say, 'What religion is Jenny Craig?' Or J.Lo, who has a clothing line. 'Oh my god! This is a front for Catholics!'"

Kirstie Big Life premiered on A&E this week.