Anyone who followed the tumultuous lives of the residents of Melrose Place certainly remembers Courtney Thorne-Smith, who starred on the series as Alison Parker for five seasons. From 1992 to 1997, Thorne-Smith saw Alison through rollercoaster relationships, alcoholism, various deaths, and plenty more dramatic storylines. Now, it’s been 25 years since the actor left the nighttime soap, and she’s moved on to many other hit TV shows in the time since. She’s also become an author and a mother. Read on to find out more about Thorne-Smith’s life today.
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After starring on Melrose Place, Thorne-Smith moved on to popular TV show: Ally McBeal. The actor played Georgia Thomas on the series from 1997 to 2000. Then, in 2001, she began starring on the sitcom According to Jim alongside Jim Belushi and stayed on the series until it ended after eight seasons in 2009.
Some of Thorne-Smith’s more recent roles include playing Lyndsey on Two and a Half Men and appearances on the series Fresh of the Boat and Mom.
In 2007, Thorne-Smith’s novel Outside In was published. The book is about a TV star but is not autobiographical.
“I got out of autobiography because my story is, I was famous, it was hard for me, I got into therapy. I had trouble with food, I got a nutritionist,” she told the Associated Press at the time. “There’s no story there.”
Instead, the book is focused on an actor who has low self-esteem and is married to her cheating husband/manager. “There’s so many young women today who look so lost,” Thorne-Smith said of the inspiration for the novel. “And I feel like, of course they’re lost. They have no one around them to give them real, authentic reflection. Nowhere they can go and say, ‘I’m having a hard day,’ where someone’s not going to say, ‘Well, you have to work anyway because you’re paying my bills.'”
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Thorne-Smith has been married to her husband, Roger Fishman, since 2007. In 2008, the couple welcomed a son, Jacob, together. “Mother and dad are thrilled. They say the baby is absolutely gorgeous,” her rep told People at the time.
Thorne-Smith shared publicly that, years before welcoming her child, she struggled with disordered eating and “overexercising.” In an interview with USA Today when she was pregnant, the actor said, “I just feel amazing. As I’m talking to you, I have my hand on my belly, and the baby’s kicking. It’s this feeling of, ‘OK, this is what my body’s for.’ I want to apologize to my body for all the years I was mean to it.”
In June 2022, Thorne-Smith reunited with two of her Melrose Place co-stars, Daphne Zuniga, who played Jo Reynolds, and Laura Leighton, who played Sydney Andrews.
Thorne-Smith does not appear to have an Instagram account, but Zuniga and Leighton both posted photos of the three women hanging out, along with some sweet captions. Zuniga wrote, “Had such a great, long lunch with my friends Laura Leighton and Courtney Thorne-Smith! You may remember seeing us having a blast together on tv in the 90s. The [love] is real.” Leighton shared, “Loved spending the day with these ladies! We’ve been friends for nearly 30 years, with so many fun, shared memories from our time together on Melrose Place.”
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