Top Gun: Maverick, which debuted on May 27, 2022, is currently Tom Cruise’s first $1 billion film in his lengthy career.
With Cruise reprising his legendary pilot role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Val Kilmer playing Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, the film included a number of well-known actors.
The only star curiously absent from the original Top Gun cast was Kelly McGillis.
McGillis played Charlotte “Charlie” Blackwood, Maverick’s love interest and a tough teacher at TopGun, alongside Cruise in the lead role.
She rose to fame with her performance in Top Gun and went on to star in a number of notable 80s films, such as Made in Heaven and The Accused.
The actress continued to work throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but her films were box office duds, and she was never a part of another blockbuster on the scale of her early pictures.
Her career eventually petered out, and she vanished from the public eye. But since Top Gun: Maverick just came out, some fans are left wondering where she is now and what she is up to.
Kelly McGillis (Pinterest)Where Is Kelly McGillis, Nowadays?
McGillis wed yacht salesman Fred Tillman in 1989, and the two of them had two kids.
Despite their pleasant times together, the actress’s difficult history had an impact on their marriage. She was sexually assaulted at knifepoint in her own house before getting married.
“I’ve always known it wasn’t the truth deep down. I never lied to Fred about my past or my family, but it was really difficult for me,” she said, according to the New York Times.
She fell in love with the bartender Melanie Leis by the time the couple divorced in 2002. Together, they eventually started drinking and consuming drugs.
Gillis and her companion started down a path of self-destruction but eventually came to their senses.
The actress left Hollywood after that to raise her daughters and eventually relocated to New Jersey with her spouse.
In addition to working as a counselor at Seabrook House Drug Alcohol Rehab Center, the actress started visiting prisons on a volunteer basis.
McGillis came out as a lesbian in 2009. A year later, she married Leis in a civil union, but their relationship ended in 2011.
Today, she lives away from Hollywood with her family as a loving granny.
Kelly McGillis (Pinterest)Why Kelly McGillis Wasn’t in “Top Gun: Maverick”?
McGillis spoke with Entertainment Tonight in 2019 to discuss her decision to not participate in Top Gun: Maverick.
The actress claimed that she had not been approached to participate in the film and that, even if she had, there was a good chance she would decline.
Since it hasn’t occurred, I’m unsure how to respond. If it did, I would have to evaluate my location, my actions, and the situation. I am unable to predict my future actions, either positive or negative. I don’t know, McGillis remarked, “since I don’t know where I’ll be.
She also discussed her reasons for leaving Hollywood, repeating that her priorities had shifted.
McGillis didn’t make a big decision to leave Hollywood; instead, she just decided that, after having a child, other people and things took precedence over her job.