Minka Kelly Reflects on ‘Gorgeous’ Stripper Mom

Charlie’s Angels star Minka Kelly adorns the cover of Cosmopolitan‘s October issue, and gives a frank accompanying interview, including some thoughts on her late mother, Maureen Kelly, who died of colon cancer in 2008.

“She was 5’11, legs up to her ears, gorgeous. She got along on that for as long as she could.” recalls the 31-year-old actress of Maureen, who worked as a Vegas showgirl and stripper in the 70s and 80s and moved Minka to a variety of different communities as she grew up.

While only child Kelly has fond memories of her mother, she admits her father Rick Dufay, who played with Aerosmith between 1980 and 1984, wasn’t always present in her childhood; though that wasn’t through a lack of trying. “He wanted to try and do the family thing. It was my mum who was too busy having fun.”

When Maureen passed away three years ago, Kelly was there by her side. “By the time she passed, I was holding her. I was with her until her last breath.” The actress admits her mother was “reckless” with her health, but says the two of them bonded in Maureen’s final days.

“I didn’t know how to appreciate what good friends we were, because I just wanted her to be my mom,” Kelly tells the magazine.

Only last month, Kelly split up with 37-year-old Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, despite rumors circulating that the couple were set to tie the knot at Long Island’s Oheka Castle.