The sultry Heather Thomas of ‘The Fall Guy’ struggled with addiction – but look at her now, at 66

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.

Heather Thomas at Farm Aid 2 in Austin, Texas, July 4, 1986. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

“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.”

Actress Heather Thomas poses for a portrait in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry Langdon/Getty Images)

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.

Heather Thomas at Farm Aid 2 in Austin, Texas, July 4, 1986. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

“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.

Shutterstock

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!

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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.

Incredible Benefits of Papaya Sap

Have you ever heard of papaya sap? This milky fluid extracted from the papaya fruit is packed with enzymes, especially papain, that offer a wealth of health benefits. From improving digestion to rejuvenating the skin, papaya sap is a hidden gem filled with goodness. Let’s explore the extraordinary benefits of papaya sap and find out how it can boost your health.

  • Boosts Digestion: Papaya sap contains the enzyme papain, which helps break down proteins and improves digestion. It is especially effective in treating digestive disorders like bloating and constipation.
  • Reduces Inflammation: Thanks to its rich enzyme content, papaya sap reduces inflammation in the body. It can help alleviate symptoms of arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
  • Promotes Wound Healing: The antimicrobial properties of papaya sap make it excellent for healing cuts, burns, and skin abrasions. It accelerates tissue repair and prevents infection.
  • Revitalizes the Skin: Papaya sap is used in various skin care products to remove dead skin cells and rejuvenate the skin. It can reduce acne, scars, and pigmentation, giving you a smoother and clearer complexion.
  • Fights Parasitic Infections: For centuries, papaya sap has been used to treat parasitic worms. The enzyme papain weakens their defense mechanisms, helping to expel them from the body.
  • Supports the Immune System: The enzymes and compounds in papaya sap boost the immune system, helping the body fight infections more effectively.
  • Potential Anti-Tumor Effects: Research suggests that the enzymes in papaya sap can have anti-tumor effects, potentially inhibiting the growth of cancer cells.
  • Natural Pain Relief: When applied topically, papaya sap acts as a natural pain reliever for cuts, stings, and burns, thanks to its analgesic properties.
  • Improves Heart Health: The enzymes in papaya sap help reduce inflammation, a significant risk factor for heart diseases. They may also assist in preventing cholesterol buildup in the arteries.
  • Mole and Wart Removal: Regularly applying papaya sap to moles and warts may cause them to dry up and fall off, thanks to the proteolytic and exfoliating properties of papain.

These ten benefits are just the beginning of what papaya sap can offer. With its comprehensive nutritional and enzymatic profile, it’s an excellent addition to any health-focused lifestyle.

Now that we know about the incredible benefits of papaya sap, let’s explore how we can incorporate this natural elixir into our daily lives to maximize its potential.

Raw Application

  • Skin Treatments: Apply papaya sap directly to the skin to treat acne, scars, or warts. Its exfoliating properties help remove dead skin cells and promote a healthier complexion.
  • Wound Care: Use papaya sap on cuts, burns, or abrasions to speed up healing and prevent infections due to its antimicrobial properties.

Dietary Uses

  • Meat Tenderizer: Use papaya sap as a natural meat tenderizer. Apply it to meat before cooking to break down proteins, making the meat softer and easier to digest.
  • Digestive Health Boost: Consuming small amounts of diluted papaya sap can aid digestion and relieve symptoms of bloating and indigestion.

Therapeutic Applications

  • Pain Relief Compress: Soak a cloth in papaya sap and apply it as a compress to areas affected by arthritis or other inflammatory conditions to help reduce pain and swelling.

Innovative Uses

  • Natural Pesticide: In the garden, papaya sap can be used as a natural pesticide to deter pests without using harmful chemicals.
  • Homemade Enzyme Cleaner: Mix papaya sap with water and a little soap to create a powerful natural cleaner for removing stubborn stains and odors.

Tips for Incorporation

  • Start with Small Quantities: If you’re new to using papaya sap, start with small amounts to ensure you don’t have an allergic reaction, especially when applying it directly to the skin.
  • Consult with Professionals: Before using papaya sap for therapeutic purposes, consult with a healthcare provider to ensure it is safe for your specific health conditions.
  • Preserve Properly: Store papaya sap in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator to maintain its potency and prevent spoilage.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice. Prior to engaging in any activities or applications described in this article, it is recommended to consult with a professional who can provide guidance specific to your circumstances.

Papaya sap is more than just a byproduct; it is a potent remedy and a versatile tool for natural wellness. By embracing the use of papaya sap, whether for health, culinary, or cosmetic purposes, you can benefit from its array of natural properties. Let’s recognize and utilize this remarkable gift from nature to enhance our health and environment.

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