Heather Thomas, who celebrated her 66th birthday on September 8, became famous for her starring role opposite Lee Majors in The Fall Guy and was once poised for a stellar Hollywood career.
Yet during the show’s finale, the stunning blonde rushed to the hospital, convinced that her father was in distress, after the actor’s mother unexpectedly appeared on set. At the Santa Monica hospital, her relatives and friends reassured her that her father, Leon, was fine—but they were deeply worried about her. This event marked the beginning of a transformative new chapter for the then-28-year-old, as both her career and personal life were forever altered.
Continue reading to learn what became of this iconic 1980s pinup.
Gifted with natural beauty and talent reminiscent of Farrah Fawcett and Heather Locklear, Heather Thomas followed her passion from an early age. At just 14, she hosted NBC’s Talking with a Giant, a talk show where she and four other teenagers interviewed celebrities. Later, while studying theater and film at UCLA with aspirations of becoming an actor, director, and writer, Thomas—now 66—made a brief appearance in the 1979 comedy series Co-Ed Fever.
Born in Connecticut, she landed her breakthrough role in 1980 on The Fall Guy, playing Jody Banks, a stuntwoman and bounty hunter alongside Lee Majors, who had earned worldwide fame in the 1970s as Steven Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man. Adored by fans, especially men who celebrated her as a sex symbol—a label she admits came with its own set of condescension—Thomas once told People, “The blonde bimbo is a stereotype that you fit into. But I was simply enjoying myself at the moment.”
Tragically, that period of carefree enjoyment extended to her excessive drug use, a habit that began long before her days as Jody Banks. Her troubles with substances started in the sixth grade when she used narcotics to maintain top grades—she recalled, “I was taking acid and getting straight As,” a phase she once found astonishing. As she matured, her drug habits escalated; while at UCLA, she began using cocaine, and her usage intensified in 1981, just a year into filming The Fall Guy. At 5-foot-7, she also developed an unhealthy preoccupation with her weight, taking Lasix—a diuretic that often left her extremely drowsy—in an effort to uphold her sex symbol image. To fight off the sluggishness, she resorted to even more cocaine.
Initially, Thomas said she was still adjusting to the effects of the drugs, even thinking she was getting a bargain on her “purchase.” Although she maintained that she never used cocaine on set—despite it enabling her to work through the night—such behavior was against the rules and eventually became a source of personal torment. A close confidant later revealed to People that her substance abuse was taking a toll on her career, with word about her issues spreading among industry insiders. Between takes, her weight would drop dramatically from 125 to 105 pounds, and she often slipped into what she described as a “minicoma.” Ultimately, she even fainted in front of Lee Majors, who then contacted her manager and mother.
Her mother, Gladdy Ryder—a former special education teacher—arrived on the set of The Fall Guy after the series finale to inform her daughter that her father had been hospitalized. Soon after, Thomas rushed to St. John’s Hospital, where family and friends greeted her, ready to commit her to a three-week drug rehabilitation program.
Reflecting on that day, Thomas remarked, “It was a big relief to me.” She recalled entering detox while suffering from pneumonia, damaged lungs, and swollen kidneys, adding, “I wanted to get off the roller coaster I’d been on. I probably would have continued until I lost my job or even died if my family hadn’t stepped in.” She even noted, “The doctors said I should have died three years ago.”
Determined to turn her life around, Thomas surrounded herself with individuals who shared her commitment to recovery. It was during this period that she first met Allan Rosenthal, a co-founder of Cocaine Anonymous, when she was 28. The two eventually married, although she filed for divorce in September 1986. That same month, she was hit by a car while crossing the street, sustaining severe injuries to both legs.
After completing detox, going through a divorce, and undergoing surgery to repair major damage to one leg, Thomas gradually restarted her career—taking on smaller television roles and appearing in films such as the 1987 movie Cyclone and the 1990 Canadian film Red Blooded American Girl alongside Christopher Plummer.
Leaving her troubled past behind, Thomas embarked on a fresh start in the 1990s. To further her career, she married entertainment attorney Skip Brittenham in 1992. In June 2000, she gave birth to her only biological child, India Rose, while also becoming the stepmother to Brittenham’s two daughters, Kristina and Shauna. Reflecting on that period, she told Reuters, “I decided to give it up and write for a while because 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.”
Focused primarily on her writing, the former Zapped! actress explained that it wasn’t a shortage of opportunities that pulled her away from acting—it was the constant invasion of privacy by stalkers.
“I was relentlessly harassed. One day, I even saw someone using a knife to scale a fence. That was the tipping point; I had two little kids to raise. Now, I believe that with age, people won’t bother me as much,” she recalled.
Additionally, Thomas has become an activist, having served on the boards of both the Amazon Conservation Team and the Rape Foundation.
Embracing her identity as a feminist—though she humorously notes that the term can be misleading for a former sex symbol—Thomas emphasized the value of independence.
“When I was younger, I followed what others said, but as I got older, I refused to compromise. I wanted independence and control, which helped me get a house and the recognition needed to open new doors. I don’t see being visible as inherently wrong. I never tricked myself. To me, being a feminist doesn’t mean feeling ashamed of your body,” she stated.
Though it’s unfortunate that Heather Thomas couldn’t return to acting, we’re relieved she found the support she needed and is now beginning a lifelong journey of healing.
We truly loved seeing her portray Jody Banks in The Fall Guy alongside Lee Majors from The Six Million Dollar Man—one of the many unforgettable shows from the 1980s! We’d love to hear your thoughts on Thomas and her recovery.