The legendary Top Gun film catapulted Tom Cruise to stardom.

Kelly McGillis, who played his love interest in the film, pursued a different path.

The 65-year-old actress is now difficult to recognize because she has recently faced much age discrimination.

Even though I was sure she wouldn’t attend, I hoped she would.

McGillis never showed up, but Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer reconnected in an emotional encounter. McGillis claims she was not approached to be a part of the cast. In 2019, Entertainment Tonight wondered if the writers of Top Gun: Maverick had approached her for a role in the sequel.

“Oh, my God. “They didn’t, and I don’t think they ever will,” McGillis added.

“I mean, I’m old and obese, and I look age-appropriate for my age, and that’s not what this whole thing is about.”

But, the 65-year-old actress didn’t appear to mind being left out of Top Gun: Maverick, which became the most significant hit film of 2022.

“I’d much rather feel fully secure in my skin and who and what I am at my age, as opposed to placing a value on all that other stuff,” she remarked.

McGillis was one of just a few women in the 1980s who could command million-dollar fees. In the film Top Gun, she portrayed astronomer and training school instructor Charlie Blackwood.

The blonde, long-legged, and lovely actress made an indelible impression as Maverick’s love interest; her smart-but-beautiful character became iconic.

“I don’t think anything prepared me for what I guess was becoming a household name,” McGillis told the Los Angeles Times.

“It was somewhat intimidating for me. I don’t want to be famous. I aspire to be an actress, and that movie hugely shook my reality. I became quite insecure. I didn’t know who I could call a friend anymore.”

Christine Fox modeled Charlie. The filmmakers met Fox, a well-known civilian flight instructor, and mathematician, while undertaking research for the film.

She had a successful career at the Pentagon, eventually advancing to the highest position ever held by a woman at the Department of Defense when she was named Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Kelly McGillis’ casting as Charlie was entirely fortuitous. Another film in which she was slated to star was canceled. McGillis got a call from Paramount and agreed to work on Top Gun instead because she liked the script, and she drove to San Diego for the shoot.

“I felt like I was watching a Western in the sky. I had no idea how visually stunning it would be. “I think Tony Scott contributed so much visually to that film,” she added.

McGillis’ role in Top Gun established her as a sex icon, but she was also hailed for her on-screen performance. Kelly enjoyed working with her co-star, and there was an apparent connection between them on-set.

“I think Tom is fantastic. He’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met. He is real, truthful, and respectful. And I had a great time working with Tom. “I think he’s fantastic,” she said.

McGillis was likened to famous cinematic beauties like Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, and Lauren Bacall at the time.

Kelly, on the other hand, could never take that analogy seriously.

“I’ve never considered myself to be a great beauty. “I suppose especially in my adolescence, and prepubescent years, when one creates one’s conceptions of oneself, I was over-weight and had a very low self-esteem,” she told Intelligencer Journal in 1986.

McGillis played Charlie in Top Gun, which is why many people remember her, but it would be unfair to McGillis to focus solely on that picture because she has accomplished so much more in her life and profession.

She impacted Hollywood in 1985 thanks to her breakout performance as an Amish widow in Witness. Following her success with Top Gun, she played a forceful lawyer in the disputed film The Accused.

McGillis was cast in various television and film parts during the 1990s, but none advanced her career.

Kelly McGillis stars in “The Monkey’s Mask” as Professor Diana Maitland.
Following that, the outspoken actress broke all the norms and left Hollywood. She shaved her blonde hair, left Hollywood, refused to perform the scripts given to her, had many children, and gained weight.

“I believe my life priorities have shifted. “It wasn’t like I made a big decision to leave; it was just that other things became more essential,” she explained to Entertainment Tonight.

She returned to her family after leaving Hollywood and spent time raising her now-grown kids, Kelsey and Sonora.

McGillis fell in love with Fred Tillman, who had no ties to the show industry, shortly after The Accused premiered. But Fred and Kelly had similar interests, such as sailing and going to the beach.

Kelly, born in 1957 and grew up in Newport Beach, California, believed she had discovered the guy of her dreams.

McGillis and Tillman married, purchased a yacht, and went to Europe.

The family then relocated to Key West, Florida, and built Kelly’s Caribbean Bar & Restaurant together.

Yet, McGillis’ history always seemed to catch up with her. According to the Top Gun star, she didn’t go to Florida to flee, but she had a lot to deal with personally.

She drank excessively and was unsure about her sexuality. She was a “wreck” for about a year.

“I was never truly dissatisfied. I just wanted to recover my anonymity and live my own life. If you have children, I believe it is your responsibility to care for them. “I didn’t want my children to remember me as a movie star; I wanted them to remember me as Mommy,” she told The Daily Telegraph in 1999.

McGillis divorced Tillman in 2002. She came out as a lesbian seven years later in an interview with SheWired. According to the actor, she has been coming out since she was 12.

“Life is a tremendous adventure, and it’s about growing and developing and accepting and loving who and what you are,” she explained.

Melanie Leis met McGillis while she was running her restaurant in Key West. However, their relationship was rocky and self-destructive; both struggled with different addictions and entered rehab. McGillis was a heavy drinker.

Yet, the criminal partners married in New Jersey in 2010. Fred Tillman, McGillis’ ex-husband, attended the civil union ceremony.

“He was my finest, best friend, and he still is,” McGillis told the Daily News, adding, “I was gay before I had kids. I had a difficult time accepting myself.”

Melanie Leis and Kelly McGillis split up in 2011.

Kelly is supposed to reside in a log cabin in the hills near Hendersonville, North Carolina. She keeps her gray hair short and loves the comfort of jeans, and she lives a calm, happy, and fulfilled life away from Hollywood.

“I’m concentrating on teaching acting privately in a tiny studio affiliated with an Asheville, North Carolina school. “I believe it is my turn to give back, and that is something I am capable of doing,” she stated in 2014.

Looking at McGillis today, it appears that she has abandoned her acting career. We hadn’t seen her in a while; her most recent credited project was in 2018, when she starred in the TV movie Maternal Secrets.

“You hear women my age talking about it all the time,” she explained. “I believe this sector is not very nice to women over 50. I’m not interested in dyeing my hair, getting Botox, or getting a facelift. “I want to be a character actress when I grow up,” she stated in 2013.

Kelly, as previously stated, had numerous press appearances in 2022. Many were concerned about what happened to her and why she wasn’t chosen for Top Gun: Maverick’s sequel because she wasn’t in it.

Kelly was cut from the film because director Joseph Kosinski decided to take it in a different direction with different characters. It had nothing to do with her appearance, according to Kosinski.

Kelly McGillis will always be an attractive astrophysical engineer to those who saw her at her peak. A woman like her in the first Top Gun is an unrivaled role model. Period.

It takes a lot of grace and elegance to leave such a career to care for herself and prioritize her family. That is more impressive than anything else.

Share on Facebook