Known for her starring role opposite Lee Majors in The Fall Guy, Heather Thomas–who turned 66 on September 8–was poised for a hugely success Hollywood career.
But when the actor’s mother showed up on set after the show’s finale was filmed, the gorgeous blonde rushed to hospital, believing that her father had an emergency.
The family and friends who greeted her at the Santa Monica hospital let her know that her dad, Leon, was fine, and that it was her who had their concerns.
This was just the beginning of a new journey for the then 28-year-old woman, whose personal life and career completely transformed after that visit to the hospital.
Keep reading to find out what happened to the former pinup girl of the 1980s!
Gifted with the talent and natural movie star beauty that rivalled Farrah Fawcett and Heather Locklear, Heather Thomas did what she was born to do.
Playing Jody Banks, a stuntwoman-bounty hunter on the popular action show, Thomas was adored by the male population who viewed her as a sex symbol, a title which she admits to having mixed feelings.
“There’s obligatory condescension that goes with that,” Thomas told People. “You fill that archetype, the blonde bimbo. But at that point, I was just having fun.”
Unfortunately, she was having too much fun with the inclusion of drugs, a habit that started before her role as Jody Banks.
Her substance use dates to the sixth grade when she started using drugs to maintain steady top grades. Thomas said, “I was taking acid and making straight A’s. I just thought it was mind expanding.”
As her mind evolved from child to adult, so did the drugs she consumed.
At UCLA Thomas started using cocaine and in 1981, one year into her role on The Fall Guy, her drug problems escalated.
Also, feeling like she had to live up with her sex symbol title, the 5-foot-7 Thomas became obsessed with weight, and started taking Lasix, a diuretic that can cause severe lethargy.
To counteract the lethargy, she took more cocaine for a burst of energy.
“At first I was in a honeymoon stage with the drug. I felt that I was getting a lot for my money. It enabled me to stay up all night and then work all the next day,” she said, claiming that she never used cocaine on set. “Cocaine is not approved of on sets. It’s not clubby to do it anymore. It is just a private hell.”
Contrary to her claims, a source close to the actor told People that her drug use was derailing her career. “Word was out on Heather,” the source said. “People knew she had a problem.”
Thomas dropped from 125 to 105 pounds and was falling asleep between takes. Thomas admitted, “Sometimes I was in a minicoma.”
And then she passed out in front of Majors, who called her manager, who called her mother.
When the series finale of The Fall Guy wrapped, her mom, Gladdy Ryder–a former special education teacher–appeared on the set and told her daughter that her father was in hospital.
Rushing to St. John’s Hospital, the author of “Trophies” was greeted by family and friends who were ready to see her admitted into the hospital’s three-week drug program.
“It was a big relief to me,” Thomas said of that day, adding that when she checked into detox, she had pneumonia, scarred lungs and inflamed kidneys. “I’d been on a roller coaster and I wanted to get off. If my family hadn’t intervened, I probably would have gone on my merry way until I lost my job or I died.”
She added, “…The doctors said I should have been dead three years ago.”
Committed to recovery, Thomas surrounded herself with like-minded people who would benefit her goals of being drug-free. That was when Thomas, 28 at the time, met and married Allan Rosenthal, the co-founder of Cocaine Anonymous, whom she divorced in September 1986.
The same month, she suffered serious injuries to both legs when she was struck by a car while crossing the street.
After detox, divorce and surgery repair major damage in one of her legs, Thomas returned to work with smaller roles in TV series. She can also be seen in films like in Cyclone in 1987 and the 1990 Canadian film Red Blooded American Girl with Christopher Plummer.
With her troubles behind her, Thomas started new in the 1990s and while trying to revive her career, she married entertainment lawyer Skip Brittenham in 1992. Taking on the new role as the stepmother to his two daughters, Kristina and Shauna, Thomas also gave birth to her only biological child, daughter India Rose who was born in June 2000.
“So when I had about 45 restraining orders out, and I was on everything from a toilet seat cover to an ashtray–and I was in love, and [then] had two little girls–I decided to give it up and write for a while,” she told Reuters.
In 2017, Heather made a brief comeback in the movie Girltrash: All Night Long, one of her 26 acting credits in her career.
Focused mostly on writing, the Zapped! actor said it wasn’t a lack of roles that drove her from acting, but the stalkers who persistently breached her privacy.
“I was getting so stalked. I had one guy climb over the fence with a knife one time. I had these two little girls and they desperately needed raising so that was that. But I think now I have gotten so old that people won’t bother me much.”
Thomas is also now involved as an activist and formerly served on the board for the Rape Foundation and Amazon Conservation Team.
Identifying as a feminist–a duplicitous title for a former sex symbol–Thomas explained the power of both.
“When I was young, I did what people told me to do but when I was older, I didn’t compromise myself. I wanted power and freedom. This gave me a house and the notoriety to get into the door. There is nothing horrible in letting people see your body. I don’t think I betrayed myself. I don’t think being a feminist means you should be ashamed of your body,” she said.
It’s really sad that Heather Thomas was unable to revive her career in acting again but we’re happy that she got the help she needed and is now in a lifelong journey of recovery.
There are so many wonderful shows of the 1980s and we loved seeing her in the role of Jody Banks in The Fall Guy with the Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors!
We’d love to hear what you have to say about Thomas and her recovery!
Known for her starring role opposite Lee Majors in The Fall Guy, Heather Thomas–who turned 66 on September 8–was poised for a hugely success Hollywood career.
But when the actor’s mother showed up on set after the show’s finale was filmed, the gorgeous blonde rushed to hospital, believing that her father had an emergency.
The family and friends who greeted her at the Santa Monica hospital let her know that her dad, Leon, was fine, and that it was her who had their concerns.
At only 14 the girl hosted an NBC series called Talking with a Giant, a show where she and four other teens interviewed celebrities.
Wanting to take her career to the next level–as an actor, director and writer–Thomas, now 66, then studied film and theater at UCLA, and the year before she graduated, she appeared in the short-lived comedy series, Co-Ed Fever (1979).
Heather Locklear and Heather ThomasPosted by Back to 80s on Saturday, June 5, 2021
In 1980, the Connecticut-born actor won her first leading role in the TV series, The Fall Guy, playing the sidekick to Lee Majors, who in the 1970s, gained global recognition for his performance as Steven Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man.
Playing Jody Banks, a stuntwoman-bounty hunter on the popular action show, Thomas was adored by the male population who viewed her as a sex symbol, a title which she admits to having mixed feelings.
“There’s obligatory condescension that goes with that,” Thomas told People. “You fill that archetype, the blonde bimbo. But at that point, I was just having fun.”
Unfortunately, she was having too much fun with the inclusion of drugs, a habit that started before her role as Jody Banks.
Her substance use dates to the sixth grade when she started using drugs to maintain steady top grades. Thomas said, “I was taking acid and making straight A’s. I just thought it was mind expanding.”
As her mind evolved from child to adult, so did the drugs she consumed.
At UCLA Thomas started using cocaine and in 1981, one year into her role on The Fall Guy, her drug problems escalated.
Also, feeling like she had to live up with her sex symbol title, the 5-foot-7 Thomas became obsessed with weight, and started taking Lasix, a diuretic that can cause severe lethargy.
To counteract the lethargy, she took more cocaine for a burst of energy.
“At first I was in a honeymoon stage with the drug. I felt that I was getting a lot for my money. It enabled me to stay up all night and then work all the next day,” she said, claiming that she never used cocaine on set. “Cocaine is not approved of on sets. It’s not clubby to do it anymore. It is just a private hell.”
Contrary to her claims, a source close to the actor told People that her drug use was derailing her career. “Word was out on Heather,” the source said. “People knew she had a problem.”
Thomas dropped from 125 to 105 pounds and was falling asleep between takes. Thomas admitted, “Sometimes I was in a minicoma.”
And then she passed out in front of Majors, who called her manager, who called her mother.
When the series finale of The Fall Guy wrapped, her mom, Gladdy Ryder–a former special education teacher–appeared on the set and told her daughter that her father was in hospital.
Rushing to St. John’s Hospital, the author of “Trophies” was greeted by family and friends who were ready to see her admitted into the hospital’s three-week drug program.
“It was a big relief to me,” Thomas said of that day, adding that when she checked into detox, she had pneumonia, scarred lungs and inflamed kidneys. “I’d been on a roller coaster and I wanted to get off. If my family hadn’t intervened, I probably would have gone on my merry way until I lost my job or I died.”
She added, “…The doctors said I should have been dead three years ago.”
Committed to recovery, Thomas surrounded herself with like-minded people who would benefit her goals of being drug-free. That was when Thomas, 28 at the time, met and married Allan Rosenthal, the co-founder of Cocaine Anonymous, whom she divorced in September 1986.
The same month, she suffered serious injuries to both legs when she was struck by a car while crossing the street.
After detox, divorce and surgery repair major damage in one of her legs, Thomas returned to work with smaller roles in TV series. She can also be seen in films like in Cyclone in 1987 and the 1990 Canadian film Red Blooded American Girl with Christopher Plummer.
With her troubles behind her, Thomas started new in the 1990s and while trying to revive her career, she married entertainment lawyer Skip Brittenham in 1992. Taking on the new role as the stepmother to his two daughters, Kristina and Shauna, Thomas also gave birth to her only biological child, daughter India Rose who was born in June 2000.
“So when I had about 45 restraining orders out, and I was on everything from a toilet seat cover to an ashtray–and I was in love, and [then] had two little girls–I decided to give it up and write for a while,” she told Reuters.
In 2017, Heather made a brief comeback in the movie Girltrash: All Night Long, one of her 26 acting credits in her career.
Focused mostly on writing, the Zapped! actor said it wasn’t a lack of roles that drove her from acting, but the stalkers who persistently breached her privacy.
“I was getting so stalked. I had one guy climb over the fence with a knife one time. I had these two little girls and they desperately needed raising so that was that. But I think now I have gotten so old that people won’t bother me much.”
Thomas is also now involved as an activist and formerly served on the board for the Rape Foundation and Amazon Conservation Team.
Identifying as a feminist–a duplicitous title for a former sex symbol–Thomas explained the power of both.
“When I was young, I did what people told me to do but when I was older, I didn’t compromise myself. I wanted power and freedom. This gave me a house and the notoriety to get into the door. There is nothing horrible in letting people see your body. I don’t think I betrayed myself. I don’t think being a feminist means you should be ashamed of your body,” she said.
It’s really sad that Heather Thomas was unable to revive her career in acting again but we’re happy that she got the help she needed and is now in a lifelong journey of recovery.
There are so many wonderful shows of the 1980s and we loved seeing her in the role of Jody Banks in The Fall Guy with the Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors!
We’d love to hear what you have to say about Thomas and her recovery!
If you just took a walk down memory lane, step back in time again and read about the iconic model Twiggy – and press here to see how she looks today, at 73.
5 FAMOUS STARS WHO KEEP THEIR KIDS HIDDEN FROM THE PUBLIC – FIND OUT WHO
5 FAMOUS STARS WHO KEEP THEIR KIDS HIDDEN FROM THE PUBLIC – FIND OUT
Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert De Niro, Kate Hudson, and two other celebrities have children who prefer to stay out of the spotlight. These children rarely make public appearances, but a few photos of them exist.
While some famous parents enjoy sharing their children’s lives with the world, others have kids who like to keep things private. For example, Robert De Niro has biracial twin sons that many people don’t even know about. These kids prefer to stay out of the public eye, keeping their lives low-key. Here’s what we know about these rarely-seen celebrity children.
ROBERT DE NIRO’S LITTLE-KNOWN BIRACIAL TWIN SONS, JULIAN AND AARON
Robert De Niro, one of the most iconic actors, is a proud father of seven children: Drena, Raphael, Aaron, Julian, Elliot, Helen, and Gia. In 1976, he married singer Diahnne Abbott, and they had their first son, Raphael.
Though De Niro is a well-known figure, his twin sons, Julian and Aaron, have managed to stay out of the spotlight for most of their lives.
Robert De Niro shared a sweet moment with his wife, Diahnne Abbott, on the set of the film *New York, New York* during a location shoot in Los Angeles on April 26, 1977. Abbott had a daughter, Drena, from a previous relationship, and De Niro adopted her before the couple separated in 1988.
In the mid-1990s, De Niro began dating African-American model Toukie Smith. Though the pair never married, they welcomed twin boys, Julian Kendrick and Aaron Henry, in October 1995 through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy. Despite their famous father, Julian and Aaron have remained largely out of the spotlight.
Julian and Aaron, who turned 28 in March 2023, prefer to keep their lives private. Although they have attended red-carpet events with their parents as both children and adults, they generally stay out of the public eye and lead quiet lives.
When asked about his kids, De Niro expressed his love for them, saying, “I love my children, just being with them. [But] It’s not easy. When you have the good moments [though], you forget about the ones that weren’t good.” Despite the challenges, De Niro cherishes the time he spends with his children.
Luna García is one of Rossy de Palma’s two children. Rossy de Palma, a Spanish actress, was discovered in 1986 by famed director Pedro Almodóvar at a café in Madrid. She quickly became a recognizable face in Almodóvar’s films, appearing in iconic movies like *Law of Desire* (1987) and *Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown* (1988).
Despite her fame, Rossy has kept her family life relatively private, and her children, including Luna, are rarely seen in public.
At the start of her acting career, Rossy de Palma faced harsh criticism from her home country’s top newspaper, being labeled as “ugly and strange.” Known for her unique look, de Palma has asymmetrical eyes and a prominent nose—her left eye is green, while her right is brighter and rounder.
Despite the comments about her appearance, Rossy embraced her distinctive features and made a bold statement in a 1994 interview, when she was 29. She confidently said, “Perhaps I’m very pretty to some people and very ugly for others. But that’s their problem, not mine.”
KATE HUDSON’S SON, RYDER, PREFERS STAYING OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT
Kate Hudson became a mother at 23 when she welcomed her son, Ryder Russell, with her ex-husband, Chris Robinson. During an interview on “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” Hudson joked about feeling like a “teen mom” after Ryder was born. She explained that becoming a mom at such a young age made her feel like she was figuring out motherhood while still growing up herself.
Despite her early start, Hudson has embraced motherhood, raising Ryder while continuing her successful acting career.
During the interview, Kate Hudson joked about feeling like she was 12 when she had Ryder, stating that in Hollywood, having a child at 23 seemed early. Along with Ryder, Hudson is also the mother of Bingham, from her relationship with ex-fiancé Matt Bellamy, and Rani Rose, her daughter with current fiancé Danny Fujikawa.
Balancing motherhood with her career and business ventures has been tough, but Hudson has managed it with help from her older children, especially Ryder. The family lives in the same house Hudson grew up in, which her mom, Goldie Hawn, and Kurt Russell bought in the 1970s. Hudson later purchased the house in 2015, combining it with a neighboring property to create a larger home.
Hudson shares a special bond with Ryder, who is now a young adult. She mentioned that having Ryder at 23 shaped their close relationship, although she still emphasizes good manners and gratitude. Despite being a “wild mum,” she and Ryder are very close, and he often shows love by doing things like making her breakfast in bed and caring for his siblings.
In September 2022, Ryder left for college on the East Coast, marking a big change for Hudson. She helped him shop for essentials and shared their preparations with her fans, calling him a “minimalist” when he refused to buy extra things. Though his departure was emotional, Hudson is proud and excited for his future.
Although it’s been hard to adjust to Ryder being away, Hudson stays in touch with him regularly, and they’ve already had emotional moments over the phone. As time goes on, they’re both committed to maintaining their bond, proving that distance only strengthens their connection.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS’ SECOND CHILD, RUBY, TRANSITIONED FROM A MAN TO A WOMAN
“Perfect” actress Jamie Lee Curtis always dreamed of having kids. After marrying her husband, comedy director Christopher Guest, the couple faced years of heartbreak as they struggled with infertility. Despite trying, they couldn’t conceive, which led them to explore other ways to grow their family. Eventually, they decided to adopt, and Curtis has often spoken about how this experience shaped her perspective on motherhood and family.
After trying everything and not succeeding, Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, Christopher Guest, chose to adopt. Curtis shared that adoption was their path to becoming a complete family because they felt something was missing until they had a child.
Just two years into their marriage, Curtis and Guest welcomed their daughter through an open adoption in 1986, right after her birth. While they had planned to adopt Annie, their second child, Ruby (formerly Thomas), came unexpectedly.
VAL KILMER IS SUPER CLOSE TO HIS DAUGHTER, MERCEDES
American actor Val Kilmer became a Hollywood star with his role as Tom Kazansky in the 1986 film *Top Gun*. He is also well-known for his performances in other popular films such as *Tombstone*, *Batman Forever*, and *Heat*.
Val Kilmer and his wife, Joanne Whalley, got married in 1988 after meeting on the set of the movie *Willow*. They also worked together in *Kill Me Again* a year after their marriage. In 1991, they welcomed their daughter, Mercedes, and then their son, Jack, was born in 1995. Although Kilmer and Whalley divorced in 1995, they stayed on good terms and continued to work together. Their love and commitment to their children remained strong despite the end of their marriage.
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