Kristin Kay (Willits) Richardson was born on August 4, 1970 in
New York City, to her parents, John Willits (1945), chiropractor, and Susan Patton (1944), car dealer. She has one brother,
Brad Willits, and one sister, Tina Heut (1965).
Kristin graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest High
School (She was a Cougar!) in 1988.She was active in the Drill team, Cheerleading, and Gymnastics.
"She was fun and funny," said gymnastics coach Janice
Miller. "Kristin was real vivacious in high school."
Kim Watts, who was co-captain of the team with Willits,
said they spent a lot of time together. "We were in every activity under the sun in high school," she said. "She was always
a captain, a leader, a main choreographer.
Kim recalled Kristin being fascinated with Madonna.
"She totally idolized Madonna," Watts said. "She dressed like her, looked like her."
But Kristin is not remembered as the "Material Girl"
Madonna sang about.
"She was real bubbly and friendly to everybody," Kim
said. "She didn't care who you were. She was very popular, yet never stuck up."
While in high school, Kristin worked at Worlds of Fun
as a dancer and singer in the variety shows, John Willits, he father said.
Kristin attended the University of Kansas for one semester
before calling her father and telling him she wanted to go to Oklahoma City University to study dance. "That started her career,"
John Willits said. She graduated in '92.
Kristin worked at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va.,
during the summers she was in college. After that she worked on a Royal Odyssey cruise ship for a year.
She eventually moved to Orlando to work at Walt Disney
World in the Beauty and the Best attraction. That was where she met Kevin.
"She was sittin' down with some friends and, uh, a buddy
of mine came up to me and said, "You need to ‘introduce yourself to her' so, evidently she'd been kinda checkin' me
out. So he kinda gave me the green light ‘cause I'm, I was a shy type a guy, can't just go up and ask ladies out so
I went and introduced myself and later on, a couple days later I asked her for her number and asked her if she was interested
in goin' out.", Kevin recalls.
"We've known him the whole time," her brother Brad Willits
said.
They began a relationship, dating on and off for about
seven or eight years, John Willits said.
During this time, Kristin auditioned for and was accepted
to spend a year as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette in New York. She toured with the Will Rogers Rollies company across the
United States and was on Broadway in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," with Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg and
David Alan Grier.
After her time on stage, Kristin made the transition
to television acting on the Comedy Central show "Viva Variety."
You can find Kristin in "I'll Never Break Your Heart",
the European version. She's the girl with Kevin.
Willits was also one of three dancers in Cher's "Believe"
tour. You can see her in" All Or Nothing", Cher's video clip which consists of different parts of "Believe" tour.
Kim Watts was not surprised Willits has added Rockette,
professional dancer and actress to her resume after her humble beginnings in neighborhood yards.
"She just has raw talent," Kim said. "I'm not surprised
she's made it this far on her own."
A little bit after that they had decided enough was
enough, they really wanted to be together and not date other people. December of 1999, they made their first public appearance
together as an official couple at the movie premiere for 'Never Been Kissed' staring Drew Barrymore as a VERY happy couple
obviously in love.
Throughout this time, Kevin was also a rising star.
John Willits said he found out after the Kansas City Backstreet Boys concert this past fall the Kevin wanted to marry Kristin.
"He turned to me and said, 'May I speak to you privately?'"
John Willits recalled. "'I'd like to ask your daughter's hand in marriage.' I said that would be fine. That was the first
time in my history, in my family, I found out first what was happening. I thanked him for that."
John Willits said his daughter and Kevin were in Kansas
City for Christmas. Kristin has been back since, though the last visit was at least two months ago, John Willits said. "She's
been real tied up with this movie and hasn't been back lately," he said. "She comes in and is gone again. And she travels
a lot."
February of 2000, Kevin announced to MTV News, that
he was engaged to his long time girlfriend and on June 17th 2000, they were married! Since then Kristin has been VERY busy.
She has just recently wrapped filming on the movie 'Rock Star' staring Mark Wallberg and has finished another movie 'Soupernatural'
which she is the star! In between all her movie filming she has some how find time to squeeze in TV appearances and a modeling
shoot! Kevin and Kristin are quite the bi-coastal couple, having a place in Los Angeles, one in Florida and their newest addition
a 100 acre farm in Kentucky. One wonders when we will be hearing the pitter patter of little feet in the Richardson home,
what beautiful kids they're going to have!
She also has parts in "Man On The Moon", starring Jim
Carrey, "Crossings", a 16 mm short film(1997), "Forever Yours" and "Gangs On The Hudson".
John Willits said he was very proud of his daughter
because she's proven hard work pays off.
"She's done it all on her own," John Willits said. "She's
accomplished it by herself one step at a time."
Name Meaning
Source: Kabalarian Philosophy
- Kristin:
Your name of Kristin
has given you an idealistic nature with a desire to help others. Your initiative often causes you to be the first to act when
you see a need. Since you are impressionable and receptive, you feel the misfortunes of others very keenly. However, this
name makes it awkward for you to express your deeper thoughts and feelings with finesse and diplomacy to the extent that your
candid, sometimes blunt, manner of speaking creates misunderstandings with others. Being somewhat self-centred, you learn
through your own experiences, as you rarely take advice from others. Yet, you are sensitive and very easily hurt and offended.
You long for praise and appreciation for your efforts, but others find it difficult to understand you. You dislike monotony
and system and enjoy being creative in an inventive way whether it be in interior decorating, music, art, crafts, or other
endeavours that require versatility and skill. You are imaginative and visionary, somewhat of a perfectionist, yet the results
of your efforts often fall short of your high expectations. A leadership position appeals to you because you would enjoy directing
others rather than being directed. Your feelings are strong and you tend to react intensely to situations. Because of your
sensitive nervous system, over-stress and extreme tiredness could cause nervous disorders, seizures, fainting, or dizziness.
You could also experience head tension such as headaches, weak eyes, or throat problems.
- Kay:
Your name Kay has given you
tenacity of purpose and has made you extremely independent. Whatever you undertake, you approach from your own point of view,
and others either have to conform to your ideas or go their own way and leave you to work things out for yourself. You are
so narrowly focused in your pursuits that you frequently overlook the little personal considerations and attentions that create
a bond of understanding and sense of companionship. Thus it is difficult for you to merge your efforts harmoniously with others.
In the home, you can inadvertently be offhand and abrupt when you would really like to show your affection. In circumstances
that require a little finesse, you find that you are inclined to be too direct and straight to the point and suffer frustration
in your personal relationships as a result. Tension could affect the eyes, ears, teeth, or sinuses. Frequent head colds or
severe headaches are potential problems.