The dark secret that caused actress Heather Thomas to leave Hollywood

Iconic 80s pinup Heather Thomas shot to fame starring alongside Lee Majors as intrepid stuntwoman Jody Banks in action series The Fall Guy.

The show was hugely successful - running for five seasons from 1981 to 1986, and Thomas, as a very attractive actress, drew many admirers - unfortunately including the worst kind of obsessed fans.

On the latest edition of the Still Here Hollywood podcast Heather opened up about her nightmare being harassed by a number of stalkers who had become obsessed with her.

Heather Thomas shot trespassing stalker

“I was just getting so many stalkers,” she told podcast host Steve Kmetko. “It got to the point where I was dealing with two stalkers a week. I had one guy one night cut my screen in my bedroom and got in, and I shot him”.

And on top of dealing with the frightening experience of dealing with stalkers face to face, the actress was also receiving suspicious and sometimes threatening items by post. “Someone sent me a box of bullets, and people would send me funeral wreaths they stole from a graveyard. I always had a bodyguard in the house because that’s where I didn’t want to come home to a dark house”.

The psychological pressure of being stalked and being afraid to leave to her own home eventually took its toll, forcing Thomas to make a big decision. In 1998, she walked away from the industry, reinventing herself as a screenplay writer and author. It was the only way out of a business that sexualized women for profit.

No ‘Me Too’ movement back in the 80s and 90s

“It was really my business. It would be like a woman who sold bathing suits. It was the way I sold things,” she explained. “I chose to be on-camera as opposed to being behind-the-scenes because I was making more money than I ever made in my life. I was young I was happy, why not? I think that the ‘Me Too’ went too far” .

Now 67, and with her stalking nightmares in the past, Thomas is able to reflect back on her time as one of Hollywood’s golden girls with pride. She was coaxed into coming out of retirement to take a bit part, playing Nadine Robson in Alexandra Kondracke’s musical comedy Girltrash: All Night Long in 2014.

“Whenever I want to work, I can work. I’m still a member of the guild, and if there were was something I really wanted, I would go for it. Right now I’m just concentrated on my grandkids, family, I’ve got three daughters so there’s a bunch of little families. I’m concentrated on politics and some activism right now, I think that’s where I can contribute something,” she concludes.

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