{"id":185,"date":"2024-06-07T22:12:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T22:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ezzuye.com\/?p=185"},"modified":"2024-06-07T22:12:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T22:12:04","slug":"the-sultry-heather-thomas-of-the-fall-guy-struggled-with-addiction-but-look-at-her-now-at-66","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ezzuye.com\/?p=185","title":{"rendered":"The sultry Heather Thomas of \u2018The Fall Guy\u2019 struggled with addiction \u2013 but look at her now, at 66"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gifted with the talent and natural movie star beauty that rivalled Farrah Fawcett and\u00a0Heather Locklear<\/a>, Heather Thomas did what she was born to do.<\/p>\n

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At only 14 the girl hosted an NBC series called\u00a0Talking with a Giant<\/em>, a show where she and four other teens interviewed celebrities.<\/p>\n

Wanting to take her career to the next level\u2013as an actor, director and writer\u2013Thomas, now 66, then studied film and theater at UCLA, and the year before she graduated, she appeared in the short-lived comedy series,\u00a0Co-Ed Fever<\/em> (1979)..<\/p>\n

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In 1980, the Connecticut-born actor won her first leading role in the TV series,\u00a0The Fall Guy<\/em>, playing the sidekick to Lee Majors, who in the 1970s, gained global recognition for his performance as Steven Austin in\u00a0The Six Million Dollar Man<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s obligatory condescension that goes with that,\u201d Thomas told\u00a0People<\/a>. \u201cYou fill that archetype, the blonde bimbo. But at that point, I was just having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, she was having too much fun with the inclusion of drugs, a habit that started before her role as Jody Banks.<\/p>\n

Her substance use dates to the sixth grade when she started using drugs to maintain steady top grades. Thomas said, \u201cI was taking acid and making straight A\u2019s. I just thought it was mind expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Actress Heather Thomas poses for a portrait in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry Langdon\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As her mind evolved from child to adult, so did the drugs she consumed.<\/p>\n

At UCLA Thomas started using cocaine and in 1981, one year into her role on\u00a0The Fall Guy<\/em>, her drug problems escalated.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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To counteract the lethargy, she took more cocaine for a burst of energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 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,\u201d she said, claiming that she never used cocaine on set. \u201cCocaine is not approved of on sets. It\u2019s not clubby to do it anymore. It is just a private hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contrary to her claims, a source close to the actor told People that her drug use was derailing her career. \u201cWord was out on Heather,\u201d the source said. \u201cPeople knew she had a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas dropped from 125 to 105 pounds and was falling asleep between takes. Thomas admitted, \u201cSometimes I was in a minicoma.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And then she passed out in front of Majors, who called her manager, who called her mother.<\/p>\n

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When the series finale of\u00a0The Fall Guy<\/em>\u00a0wrapped, her mom, Gladdy Ryder\u2013a former special education teacher\u2013appeared on the set and told her daughter that her father was in hospital.<\/p>\n

Rushing to St. John\u2019s Hospital, the author of \u201cTrophies\u201d was greeted by family and friends who were ready to see her admitted into the hospital\u2019s three-week drug program.<\/p>\n

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Heather Thomas at Farm Aid 2 in Austin, Texas, July 4, 1986. (Photo by Paul Natkin\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt was a big relief to me,\u201d Thomas said of that day, adding that when she checked into detox, she had pneumonia, scarred lungs and inflamed kidneys. \u201cI\u2019d been on a roller coaster and I wanted to get off. If my family hadn\u2019t intervened, I probably would have gone on my merry way until I lost my job or I died.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201c\u2026The doctors said I should have been dead three years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The same month, she suffered serious injuries to both legs when she was struck by a car while crossing the street.<\/p>\n

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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\u00a0Cyclone<\/em>\u00a0in 1987 and the 1990 Canadian film\u00a0Red Blooded American Girl<\/em>\u00a0with Christopher Plummer.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I had about 45 restraining orders out, and I was on everything from a toilet seat cover to an ashtray\u2013and I was in love, and [then] had two little girls\u2013I decided to give it up and write for a while,\u201d she told\u00a0Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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