Shirley MacLaine rose to fame as Ouiser on “Steel Magnolias.” Scandals and challenges filled her personal life since then.
She has a daughter and grandchildren, but a painful moment caused them to stop seeing each other.
Now 89, the actress is often spotted alone, looking frail and lonely in more recent sightings.
Shirley MacLaine had to learn about independence at a young age. Living in a home where her parents were always busy, she’d get ready for school alone and bring herself to ballet class after.
At 11, she was already riding buses and streetcars alone in Virginia. She always had no one to talk to because her parents were asleep when she came home from ballet.
MacLaine turned to dance to cope with the lack of company at home. After graduating high school, she moved to New York, filled with big dreams.
She joined the chorus and did everything she needed to do to keep her job. During one of her performances, movie producer Hal B. Wallis of Paramount Pictures was in the audience.
Wallis saw the talent that MacLaine had and decided to sign her to a five-year contract. The contract started her Hollywood career, and MacLaine became an award-winning actress with a string of successful movies under her belt.
She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar six times throughout her six-decade-long career. MacLaine won one for “Terms of Endearment” in 1983.
She then took a five-year hiatus from making movies before starring in consecutive hit moves through “Madame Sousatzka,” “Postcards from the Edge,” and “Steel Magnolias.”
“Steel Magnolias” was a crowd-favorite movie starring Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton. Olympia Dukakis, and Shirley McLaine. It cemented her as a fan favorite, with some fans calling her and Olympia Dukakis their heroes.
Her character, Ouiser Boudreaux, was a wealthy yet miserable lady. She has a unique personality in the movie, and her sense of humor provided great relief during the movie’s more serious scenes.
During her hiatus, she was going through a challenging personal time. She was married to her husband, Steve Parker, from 1954 to 1982 before they divorced.
Their marriage was unlike any other. It was filled with scandals and was a 30-year-long open marriage.
MacLaine and Parker had one child together, Sachi Parker, who eventually got married and bore two children. MacLaine is now a grandmother to Frank Murray Jr., born in 1996, and Arin Murray, born in 1998.
Unfortunately for MacLaine, she is no longer in contact with her daughter and grandchildren. A heartbreaking incident caused them to cut ties; MacLaine is often seen alone.
Shirley MacLaine was seen shopping several times in the Malibu area. Completely different from how she’s seen on screen, MacLaine heads out in loose clothing, unkempt hair, and no makeup on her face.
MacLaine often runs her errands alone, looking frail and rather lonely with her eyebags on full display. During one instance, a fan notices her, and the actress looks up at him without flashing a smile.
Instead, the actress went along her business loading groceries inside her trunk before closing it shut. On YouTube, fans commented on her appearance and how her life turned out.
The users claimed that the actress looks lonely because she has a bad relationship with her daughter. One said she looked “so frail and somewhat lonely” and attributed it to the lack of family in her life.
The “Steel Magnolias” actress has kept herself busy by working through the years. She still continues to film, and whenever she has time, she retreats to her ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, where she stays for some time every year.
Admittedly, MacLaine is “totally alone” most of the time. She has someone who comes in a couple of times a week to keep her things in order, but that’s about it.
It doesn’t bother MacLaine to be alone most of the time. She’s glad to have her dogs, particularly three rat terriers, and her friends who keep her company whenever possible.
When MacLaine’s daughter Sachi was born, her career was blooming. This meant not being able to spend much time with her daughter, which she once regretted.
However, looking back at her life, she no longer regrets not being able to spend time with her daughter. After all, they’ve had their moments, and she admitted their relationship is “more like friends, anyway.”
Sachi lived with her dad in Japan when she was two years old. MacLaine didn’t want Sachi to grow up in Hollywood after all the scares that took place.
There was an incident where Sachi’s nanny came to work drunk, and they also received kidnapping threats as the daughter of a famous actress. So, Sachi was enrolled in an International School in Tokyo.
From MacLaine’s point of view, during the first few years in Japan, she was a hands-on mother to Sachi. They lived in Shibuya, but MacLaine would get to spend time with her daughter during summers, Christmases, and Easter.
From Sachi’s point of view, her mother was barely around, and gave her tough love. So tough, that when she once asked her mom for $500 to buy a used car, MacLaine loaned it to her with interest.
She recalled coming home one Christmas, only for neither of her parents to be home. Whenever they did get together, MacLaine’s tolerance for her allegedly lasted for only four hours.
Ultimately, Sachi is glad to have grown up in Japan. The celebrity daughter reflected that if she grew up in Hollywood, she “might have been jaded.”
For years, Sachi worked as a stewardess, maid, and waitress. However, she decided to pursue a career in Hollywood, hoping to follow in her famous mom’s footsteps.
She had several parts in movies and TV shows and joined some stage productions. However, she never got a taste of the spotlight like her mother did.
During those years, Sachi was close to her mother and they were “best friends.” In fact, until her daughter was 27 years old, they lived together in an apartment.
Despite all their years together, MacLaine and the rest of the world were stunned by Sachi’s sudden release of a book that spoke ill of her mom. She reiterated the contents of a book during a TV interview, claiming her dad brought her up for most of her life.
Sachi’s book unpacked all the strange and bizarre things she experienced as MacLaine’s daughter, along with some personal experiences.
She accused MacLaine of being “very absent” and of shipping her out to Japan at two years old. By the time she was 12, she was sent to an English boarding school before being transferred to another one.
She wrote about her experiences in the book and, later on, sent a copy to her mother with a note that read: “I love you.” Sachi’s book unpacked all the strange and bizarre things she experienced as MacLaine’s daughter, along with some personal experiences.
Despite everything that happened, Sachi said she still hoped to understand her mom and her decision to do things the way she did. However, their relationship seems to have never recovered.
All Sachi wanted from her mom was an apology, and for her to take responsibility for how she was raised. “That would really, really be wonderful,” she admitted.
MacLaine’s publicist didn’t immediately comment on Sachi’s interview and book. However, her agent Jack Gilardi stated that he had no intentions of ever reading the book before defending his client by saying much of the accusations were “so much not Shirley MacLaine.”
Later on, MacLaine’s camp released a statement in response to the accusations in Sachi’s book. The statement read:
“It’s a painful moment for me as a mother and as someone who values the truth. I’m shocked and heartbroken that my daughter would make statements about me that are virtually all fiction.”
MacLaine added that through the years and in her own autobiographies, she praised her daughter and wrote about her truthfully. She ultimately said she was hurt to see her daughter write something so dishonest and opportunistic.
Ultimately, MacLaine has not been spotted with her daughter or grandchildren after the release of the book. Sachi raises her two children as a single mother and is no longer in contact with her mom.
Despite all the drama brought about by Sachi’s book, the actress still believes she has a “perfect life.” Her definition of perfect is freedom – she has the freedom to eat what she wants to eat and to sleep whenever she wants to.
Through the years, MacLaine is proud to have been able to sustain a long-lasting career, which she credits to the discipline she learned during her childhood ballet classes. “I’m not a diva,” she once said. Rather, she values the importance of hard work and grit.
MacLaine works hard and never thought about quitting because of her love for traveling the world. She admitted that she needed money to pay for her plane tickets, and that was enough to keep her going.
In recent years, the actress has been making the most out of her time. Taking life with a little less seriousness, she once joked that after reaching the 80s mark, she’s “a lot closer to dying.”
It hasn’t been difficult for the actress to continue working because she enjoys making movies. She loves art, and she sees her work as a form of creativity.
Having worked for most of her life, MacLaine has earned enough to sustain her lifestyle. Nowadays, she’s chosen to live life as she pleases, which includes enjoying some drinks around Malibu.
On one outing, she was enjoying the company of her family members, particularly an elderly male and a younger man. Her daughter and grandchildren were not seen with her, yet the actress was still seen enjoying herself.
On another occasion, MacLaine proved that she was okay with being alone. While having brunch, she downed another drink while enjoying the sun while eating al fresco.
Only time will tell if MacLaine still plans to make amends with her estranged daughter. They haven’t been spotted together since 2013, and it was the last time Sachi ever tried to do something in connection with her mother.
Aside from her tell-all book, Sachi also played her mom in a one-woman show called “Lucky Me” to support her autobiography. Not much has been heard about her since, and she’s chosen to live a life away from the spotlight.
