In the late 1980s, Kelly McGillis was one of Hollywood's most sought-after actresses, starring in blockbusters such as Top Gun, Witness, and The Accused. She shared the screen with Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, and Kurt Russell, but by the late 1990s, she had stepped away from the limelight to raise a family in Key West and later Pennsylvania.
McGillis has since spoken about the traumatic events that shaped her life. In her twenties, she was mugged at gunpoint and later assaulted in her New York apartment by two men who threatened her with a knife. She told People magazine: 'They kept switching and telling me they were going to beat me until I was dead. At that point I thought I would die, and I had resigned myself.' She also revealed that she was gang-raped at age 12.
The aftermath of the attacks led to struggles with eating, sleeping, and alcohol addiction. Therapy and rehab helped her rebuild her life. Her marriage to Fred Tillman suffered as she battled addiction and her struggle to accept her sexual identity. She later said: 'I met Fred, and I thought, Fred will protect me. Nobody will ever hurt me again. And that only worked for so long because the fact is that I wasn't being true to who I was and what I am.'
In her forties, McGillis embraced her sexuality and entered a relationship with Melanie Leis, whom she married in 2010. They separated in 2013. She also spoke about the pressures of Hollywood, including ageism and sexism, and her reluctance to return to big-budget films. 'I don't know if anybody will really hire me, because the bottom line is I'm no longer willing to sacrifice who I am for what I do,' she told the Philadelphia Gay News.
Despite stepping back from the spotlight, McGillis has occasionally returned to acting. She expressed disappointment at being left out of the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
