Actress Kirstie Alley has blasted a tabloid report suggesting she "collapsed" and "broke down in tears" over her ballooning weight.

The former Cheers star has battled the bulge for years and was until recently a spokesmodel for U.S. weightloss company Jenny Craig - after slimming down.

But recent photos of the actress show she has piled on the pounds again, and earlier this week, a National Enquirer article suggested Alley had checked into the Cal-a-Vie health spa in California last month to seek professional help after losing control of her diet and watching her weight "soar to a record 250 pounds".

The tabloid even went so far as to suggest Alley's condition had become life threatening.

A source said, "Her breakdown was a blessing in disguise - it was the wake-up call she needed. She realized she had to take drastic measures or she could die."

But Alley has fired back at the erroneous reports, insisting she only went to the spa to "jump start" her exercise programme.

In a series of posts on her Twitter.com blog on Thursday, Alley wrote: "I DID NOT SEEK "PROFESSIONAL" HELP.. I have NEVER in my life weighed one ounce more that 228 pounds."

Another 'tweet' read, "NO BREAKDOWN... NO CLOSE SOURCE... DID NOT GAIN BACK 105LBS (pounds)..."