Where Is Shelley Long Now? Her Quiet Life in L.A. After Missing ‘Cheers’ Reunion

“I’ve never regretted the decision [to leave Cheers],” she insisted. “I’ve been annoyed by the comments and the constant questions of, ‘Do you regret? Do you ever regret?’ … I don’t regret it. I’ve said it over and over again.”

Long explained that her primary reason for leaving Cheers at the height of the show’s popularity was that she “sincerely” wanted more time with her family.

“I’ll forever treasure [that time with my family],” she added.

Long was married to Ken Solomon early in her career, before tying the knot with securities broker Bruce Tyson in 1981. Tyson and Long share one daughter, Juliana, born in March 1985. (Long and Tyson divorced in 2004.)

Long kept busy after leaving Cheers, appearing in a string of successful movies with The Money Pit, Troop Beverly Hills and The Brady Bunch Movie into the 1990s.

She made recurring appearances in Modern Family as Ed O’Neill’s onscreen ex-wife, DeDe Pritchett. Long appeared in eight Modern Family episodes over a nine-year period. Her character was killed off in a memorable 2018 episode as a way to prove “death is a giant part of the family experience,” according to Modern Family cocreator Steve Levitan.

“[DeDe was] directly involved with three of our characters and she touched everybody’s life in some interesting way,” the producer explained at the time. “It seemed like the right character to put everybody through something. She seemed like the right character because she so directly affects so many of our characters.”

Speaking to ABC News in 2017, Long reflected on entering a new phase of her career after playing romantic leads for so long.

“There just aren’t a lot of roles in general, roles for someone more specific to my age,” she noted. “I’m kind of in the middle, I don’t exactly look like a grandmother, but I don’t look like a leading lady in the more traditional sense … There are a lot of young grandmothers out there.”