Heather Thomas, a gifted actress who was a teen idol in the 1980s, has gone a long way since then. She is most known for her role in the hit TV show “The Fall Guy.” Thomas has been through the ups and downs of Hollywood at the age of 66, including a battle with addiction that almost ended her career.
Life and Work at the Beginning
Thomas started his career in show business when he was quite young. She hosted an NBC show called “Talking with a Giant” when she was only 14. On the show, she interviewed celebrities with four other teens. People saw her inherent charm and charisma on camera, and she went on to study film and drama at UCLA.
Fame and Addiction Rise
In 1980, Thomas got her big break when she played Jody Banks, a stuntwoman and bounty hunter, in “The Fall Guy” with Lee Majors. The show’s popularity made her famous, but Thomas had to pay a price for her new celebrity. She started using narcotics in sixth school to keep her grades up, and she kept doing it as an adult, finally becoming addicted to cocaine.
Thomas’s drug and alcohol problems hurt her health and her job. She remembered feeling very tired and losing weight, going down to 105 pounds because of her addiction. When she passed out on set in front of her co-star Lee Majors, her mother had to step in because things were becoming bad.
Help and healing
Thomas’s mother set up an intervention, and Thomas went to treatment. She met and married Allan Rosenthal, who co-founded Cocaine Anonymous, when she was 28. This was the start of her path to recovery. The marriage ended in divorce in 1986, but Thomas kept working on becoming better.
After Getting Better
Thomas rebuilt her life and career after getting over her addiction. In 1992, she married Skip Brittenham, an entertainment lawyer, and became the stepmother to his two daughters. In 2000, the couple had a daughter named India Rose. Thomas also started to focus more on writing, which helped her feel better.
But Thomas had to deal with another problem: being stalked all the time. She remembered obtaining roughly 45 restraining orders against people who invaded her privacy. She decided to stop acting and put her family’s safety first when this happened.
Life and Activism Right Now
Thomas is now an activist for several issues. He is on the boards of the Rape Foundation and the Amazon Conservation Team, among other things. She is a feminist and believes in the importance of being able to say what you want and do what you want with your body. Thomas has also acted again for a short time, in the 2017 movie “Girltrash: All Night Long.”
Thomas’s tale is one of strength and persistence, even though she had to deal with a lot of problems. Her story is an encouragement for people who are addicted and looking for a way to get better and find happiness.