Tom Cruise shot to fame with the classic Top Gun film.
However, Kelly McGillis, the actress who played his romantic interest in the film, took a completely opposite turn.
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The 65-year-old actress has endured a great deal of ageism in recent years, to the point where it is difficult to recognize her these days.
I doubt I was the only one who was reminded of Kelly McGillis when I saw the sequel to the beloved 1980s movie Top Gun: Maverick in the theater. Even though I knew she wouldn’t show up, I secretly hoped that I would still get to see her.
Naturally, McGillis never materialized, and in a poignant sequence, Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer reconnected. McGillis claims that she wasn’t invited to join the cast. Entertainment Tonight questioned in 2019 whether she had been offered a part in the Top Gun: Maverick sequel by the film’s creators.
“Oh my god, no.” They didn’t, and I don’t think they ever will,” McGillis remarked.
“Well, I’m overweight and elderly, and I look suitable for someone my age, yet that isn’t the main focus of the entire scene.
The 65-year-old actress, nevertheless, didn’t seem to mind that she wasn’t included in Top Gun: Maverick, the 2022 big hit film.
“Instead of putting a value on all that other stuff, I’d much rather feel absolutely secure in my skin and who and what I am at my age,” the woman stated.
The truth about her character in Top Gun
McGillis was among the few women who could earn million-dollar fees in the 1980s. Starring in Top Gun, the well-known actress played Charlie Blackwood, an astrophysicist and training school instructor.
The blonde, elegant, long-legged actress left a lasting impression as Maverick’s romantic interest; her sophisticated yet stunning persona became legendary.
McGillis told the LA Times, “I don’t think anything prepared me for what I guess was becoming a household name kind of thing.”
I found it to be incredibly intimidating. My goal is not to become famous. I just want to be an actress, so that movie was a major reality check for me. I became really insecure. I was unsure of whom I could still rely on as a friend.
In reality, Charlie was modeled after Christine Fox, another legendary figure. The producers encountered Fox, a well-known civilian flight instructor and mathematician, while conducting research for the film.
Later on in her brilliant career at the Pentagon, Fox was appointed Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense, the highest position a woman has ever held.the Defense Department.
It was somewhat of a coincidence that Kelly McGillis was cast as Charlie. She was supposed to star in another film, but it didn’t work out. After receiving a call from Paramount asking her to work on Top Gun instead, McGillis accepted the screenplay and drove to San Diego for the shoot.
It seemed to me like a Western in the skies. I had no idea it would be so beautifully rendered. She commented, “I think Tony Scott added so much to that movie visually.”
In addition to being a sex icon due to her role in Top Gun, McGillis received praise for her on-screen persona. Kelly had a great rapport with Cruise off-set, and their on-screen connection was evident.
“I think Tom is excellent. He’s the cutest man ever. He is really respectful, real, and sincere. I too had a great time working with Tom. He’s amazing, in my opinion,” she remarked.
McGillis was compared to famous movie stars like Lauren Bacall, Grace Kelly, and Ingrid Bergman at the time.
However, Kelly was never going to take that analogy seriously.
“I’ve never considered myself to be very beautiful. During the prepubescent and adolescent years, when self-concepts are formed, I believe that my main flaws were being extremely overweight and having a very low sense of self-worth,” she stated in 1986 to Intelligencer Journal.
Turned her back on Hollywood
It wouldn’t be fair to McGillis to limit our discussion to her performance in Top Gun, even if that film is what many of us and I remember her for. She has accomplished so much more in her life and work.
She made waves in Hollywood in 1985 when she played an Amish widow in the film Witness. She played a harsh lawyer in the contentious movie The Accused, which she appeared in after her triumph with Top Gun. Afterwards, McGillis was chosen for a number of film and television parts in the 1990s, but none of them helped her career.
Following that, the outspoken actress disregarded all social norms and abandoned Hollywood. She shaved her blonde hair, quit Hollywood, had children, and put on weight in addition to refusing to perform the scripts that were handed to her.
“I believe that my priorities have simply shifted.” “It wasn’t like I made a big decision to leave; other things just took precedence,” she revealed to Entertainment Tonight.
Kelly McGillis husband
She put her family first and took time off from Hollywood to raise her now-adult children, Kelsey and Sonora.
McGillis fell in love with Fred Tillman—a man with no background in show business—shortly after The Accused debuted. However, Fred and Kelly had similar hobbies; they enjoyed beaches and sailing.
Born in 1957, Kelly grew up in Newport Beach, California, where she lived with sand between her toes, and she thought she had found the love of her life.
After getting married, McGillis and Tillman purchased a yacht and set sail for Europe.
After moving to Key West, Florida, the family started Kelly’s Caribbean Bar & Grill, a restaurant they all owned.
However, McGillis’ history always seemed to find her. The Top Gun actress claims that she had personal issues to attend to in Florida rather than traveling there as a way to escape.
She was insecure about her sexual orientation and drank excessively. She was a terrible person for about a year.
“I never felt truly unhappy. All I wanted was to live my own life and get back my anonymity. In my opinion, it is your responsibility to care for your children if you have any. In 1999, she stated to The Daily Telegraph, “I wanted my kids to know me as Mommy, not as a movie star.”
Coming out
McGillis separated from Tillman in 2002. She revealed her sexual orientation as a lesbian in an interview with SheWired, seven years later. The actress claimed that since she was twelve, coming out has been a continuous struggle.
“Life is an incredible journey, involving personal development and transformation, accepting and embracing oneself,” the speaker remarked.
McGillis met Melanie Leis, a bartender, while she was operating her restaurant in Key West. Unfortunately, they had a rocky and self-destructive relationship; they both checked themselves into treatment for substance abuse issues. McGillis was a heavy drinker.
Still, in 2010, the criminal partners tied the knot in New Jersey. Fred Tillman, McGillis’s ex-husband, was present at the civil union ceremony.
McGillis told Daily News, “He was and still is my greatest, bestest friend. I was gay before I had kids.” It was incredibly difficult for me to accept who I am.
2011 saw the breakup of Kelly McGillis and Melanie Leis.
Kelly McGillis today
Kelly is reportedly residing in a log cabin in Hendersonville, North Carolina’s hills as of right now. She enjoys living a calm, contented life away from Hollywood, wearing her gray hair short and wearing jeans because they are more comfortable.
In Asheville, North Carolina, I am mostly teaching acting one-on-one in a tiny studio attached to a school. In 2014, she declared, “I feel like it’s my time to give back, and I know how to do that.”
It appears that McGillis has given up on her acting profession based on the way she appears today. She hasn’t been on screen in a while; her most recent creditable role was in the 2018 TV film Maternal Secrets.
“Women my age talk about this all the time,” the woman remarked. This industry, in my opinion, does not treat women over 50 very well. I don’t like getting my face lifted, getting Botox, or dyeing my hair. As she stated in 2013, “I want to become a character actress when I grow up.”
As already noted, Kelly made frequent news appearances in 2022. People were curious about what happened to her since she wasn’t there in Top Gun: Maverick.and the reason behind her exclusion from the sequel.
Kelly wasn’t included because, in the words of director Joseph Kosinski, he wanted to take the movie in a different path with different characters. Kosinski said it had nothing to do with the way she looked.
