Heather Thomas, who turned 66 on 8 September, was best known for her starring role as Lee Majors in the TV series Fall Guy.
But when the actor’s mother turned up on set after filming of the series finale was over, the gorgeous blonde rushed to the hospital, believing her father had an emergency.
Family and friends who met her at the Santa Monica hospital informed her that her father Leon was fine and that she was the one who was worried.
It was just the beginning of a new journey for the 28-year-old woman, whose personal life and career completely changed after that hospital visit.
Keep reading to find out what happened to the former 1980s pinup girl!
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Gifted with the talent and natural beauty of a film star who rivalled Farrah Fawcett and Heather Locklear, Heather Thomas has done what she was born to do.
At just 14, the girl became the host of the NBC series ‘Talking to a Giant,’ in which she and four other teens interviewed celebrities.
Eager to take her career to the next level – as an actor, director and screenwriter – Thomas, now 66, studied film and theatre at UCLA, and a year before graduating, she starred in the short-lived comedy series ‘Collaborative Fever’ (1979).
In 1980, the Connecticut native landed her first starring role in the TV series ‘Fall Guy,’ playing crony Lee Majors, who gained worldwide recognition in the 1970s for her role as Stephen F. Austin in ‘The Six Million Dollar Man.’
Playing Jodie Banks, a bounty hunter stuntwoman in the popular action show, Thomas was adored by the male population who considered her a sex symbol, which she admits to having mixed feelings about.
‘There’s an obligatory condescension that goes along with that,’ Thomas told People. ‘You fit into that archetype – the blonde bimbo. But in that moment, I was just having fun.’
Unfortunately, she was having too much fun while using drugs, a habit that started even before her role as Jodie Banks.
She started using drugs as early as sixth grade to consistently get top grades. Thomas says, ‘I was taking acid and getting straight A’s. I just thought it expanded the mind.’
As her consciousness changed from childlike to adult, so did the drugs she used.
At UCLA, Thomas began using cocaine, and in 1981, a year after her role in the TV series Fall Guy, her drug problems escalated.
Also feeling she had to live up to her title as a sex symbol, the 170cm tall Thomas became obsessed with her weight and started taking Lasix, a diuretic that can cause severe lethargy.
To combat the lethargy, she took more cocaine for a burst of energy.
‘At first I had a honeymoon period with the drug. I felt like I was getting a lot for my money. It allowed me to stay up all night and then work all the next day,’ she says, claiming she never used cocaine on set. ‘Cocaine is frowned upon on film sets. It’s not a club thing anymore. It’s just a personal hell.’
Contrary to her claims, a source close to the actor told People that her drug use was undermining her career. ‘There were rumours about Heather,’ the source said. ‘People knew she had a problem.’
Thomas lost weight from 125 to 105 pounds and fell asleep between takes. Thomas admitted, ‘I was in a minicom at times.’
And then she passed out in front of Majors, who called her manager, who called her mother.
When the final episode of Fall Guy ended, her mum, Gladdie Ryder – a former special education teacher – turned up on set and told her daughter that her dad was in hospital.
The Trophies author rushed to St John’s Hospital, where she was met by family and friends ready to admit her into a three-week drug treatment programme.
‘It was a big relief for me,’ Thomas says of that day, adding that when she entered detox, she had pneumonia, scarring on her lungs and inflamed kidneys. ‘I was on a roller coaster and I wanted to get off it. If my family hadn’t intervened, I probably would have kept having fun until I lost my job or died.’
She added: ‘…The doctors said I should have died three years ago.’
Determined to get well, Thomas surrounded herself with like-minded people who could help her achieve her goal of becoming drug-free. It was then that Thomas, who was 28 at the time, met and married Allan Rosenthal, co-founder of Cocaine Anonymous, from whom she divorced in September 1986.
That same month, she suffered serious injuries to both legs when she was hit by a car while crossing the street.
After detox, divorce, and surgery to repair serious damage to one of her legs, Thomas returned to work, playing small roles in television series. She can also be seen in films such as 1987’s Cyclone and the 1990 Canadian film Red Blooded American with Christopher Plummer.
In the 1990s, Thomas began a new career, and in 1992, in an attempt to revive her career, she married entertainment attorney Skip Brittenham. Taking on a new role as stepmother to his two daughters, Christina and Shawna, Thomas also gave birth to her only biological child, daughter India Rose, who was born in June 2000.
‘When I had about 45 restraining orders against me and I was on everything from a toilet lid to an ashtray – and I was in love, and then I had two little daughters, I decided to drop everything and write for a while,’ she told Reuters.
In 2017, Heather made a small comeback in Girltrash: All Night Long,’ which was one of 26 acting jobs in her career.
Focusing mainly on writing, the ‘Zapped!’ actor said it wasn’t a lack of roles that made her leave film, but stalkers who persistently violated her personal life.
‘I was stalked so much. One day a guy climbed over a fence with a knife. I had two little girls and they were in desperate need of parenting, so that was the end of it. But I think I’m so old now that people won’t bother me too much.’
Thomas is now also involved in activism, and previously served on the board of directors of the Anti-Rape Foundation and the Amazon Conservation Team.
Listing herself as a feminist – an ambiguous title for a former sex symbol – Thomas explained the strength of both.
‘When I was young, I did what people told me to do, but when I got older, I didn’t compromise. I wanted power and freedom. It gave me a home and the fame to get into it. There’s nothing horrible about letting people see your body. I don’t think I betrayed myself. I don’t think being a feminist is about being ashamed of your body,’ she said.
It is very sad that Heather Thomas was unable to revive her acting career, but we are glad that she got the help she needed and is now on a life journey of recovery.
There are so many great TV series from the 1980s, and we loved seeing her as Jodie Banks in Fall Guy with Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors!
We’d love to hear what you have to say about Thomas and her recovery!
If you’ve just taken a stroll down memory lane, go back in time and read about iconic model Twiggy – and click here to see what she looks like today, at 73.
