Personal Life
MacLaine was married to businessman Steve Parker until their divorce in 1982. In April 2011, while promoting her new book, I'm Over All That, she revealed to Oprah Winfrey that she had an open relationship with her husband. They had a daughter, Sachi. According to her, she had had affairs with prime-ministers and leading actors.
MacLaine has a strong interest in spirituality and metaphysics. Many of her best-selling books, such as Out on a Limb and Dancing in the Light, have it as their central theme. Her interests have led her to such forms of spiritual exploration as walking El Camino de Santiago, working with Chris Griscom, and practicing Transcendental Meditation.
Her well-known interest in New Age spirituality has made its way into several of her films. In Albert Brooks's 1991 romantic comedy Defending Your Life, the recently deceased lead characters, played by Brooks and Meryl Streep, are astonished to find MacLaine introducing their past lives in the "Past Lives Pavilion." In 1990's Postcards from the Edge, MacLaine, playing a character loosely based on Debbie Reynolds, sings a special version of "I'm Still Here", with customized lyrics created especially for her by composer Stephen Sondheim. One of the lyrics was changed to "I'm feeling transcendental – am I here?" In the 2001 made-for-television movie These Old Broads – written by Reynolds' daughter – starring MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Collins, Elizabeth Taylor and Carrie Fisher, MacLaine's character is a devotee of New Age spirituality.
She has such a serious interest in UFOs that she has given numerous interviews on CNN, NBC and Fox news channels on the subject through 2007–2008. In her 2007 released book Sage-ing While Age-ing, she mentioned her alien encounters and witnessing of Washington DC UFO incidents in the 1950s.
MacLaine is godmother to the daughter of U.S. Representative, Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat and former mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
Like Warren Beatty, MacLaine used her celebrity status in instrumental roles as a fundraiser and organizer for George McGovern's campaign for president in 1972. That year, she authored the book McGovern: The Man and His Beliefs.
Read more about this topic: Shirley MacLaine
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