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Actress Heather Thomas poses for a portrait in 1985 in Los Angeles, California© Getty Images

The Fall Guy bombshell talks real reason she retired 30 years after quitting Hollywood — see her today

Heather Thomas was best known for her role as Jody Banks in The Fall Guy

Beatriz Colon
Beatriz Colon - New York
New York WriterNew York
March 24, 2025
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Heather Thomas is giving insight into her decision to leave Hollywood behind.

The actress' fame skyrocketed back in the early 1980s, when she starred in the action-adventure television series The Fall Guy, opposite Lee Majors, as a Hollywood stunt double moonlighting as a bounty hunter.

However in 1998, when she was 41, she ultimately decided to quit Hollywood, and is now further opening up about one of the harrowing reasons behind it.

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Heather, recently speaking on Still Here Hollywood podcast with Steve Kmetko gave insight into quitting Hollywood after becoming overwhelmed with how many stalkers she had.

By the mid-1990s, some years after The Fall Guy was cancelled, she shared: "I was just getting so many stalkers."

The former actress revealed that the situation was "really bad" and that at one point, she was dealing with "at least two a week."

Heather Thomas circa 1982 in New York City© Getty Images
Heather circa 1982

"I had tons of restraining orders," she further shared, adding: "I had two little girls, and a guy's jumping our gate with a giant buck knife. In those days, I don't know if this is true now, but people would fixate. You could be in a soap commercial, and they would fixate on you."

Heather Thomas and daughter Shauna Brittenham attend The Pacific Center for Counseling and Psychotherapy's Third Annual PACT Tribute Award Honoring Angela Lansbury on September 19, 1992 at Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, California© Getty
With her daughter Shauna in 1992

Since 1992, Heather has been married to entertainment attorney Harry Marcus "Skip" Brittenham, and they have three kids, India, Shauna and Kristina.

Heather Thomas attends Chiller Theatre Expo Spring 2022 on April 30, 2022 in Parsippany, New Jersey© Getty Images
The former actress in 2022

Further recalling her "scary" experiences with stalkers, Heather noted: "There weren't a lot of stalker laws, and I just needed to be home anyway."

She also recalled: "Someone sent me a box of bullets, and people would send me funeral wreaths they stole from a graveyard," and that she "always had a bodyguard in the house because that's where I didn't want to come home to a dark house."

Heather Thomas attends the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures "The Fall Guy" at Dolby Theatre on April 30, 2024 in Hollywood, California© WireImage
Attending the premiere of The Fall Guy movie in 2024

Heather went on to share an especially terrifying incident that resulted in having to shoot one of her stalkers.

"I had one guy one night cut my screen in my bedroom and got in, and I shot him," she revealed. The gun didn't have bullets, instead just rock salt, and she added that she didn't know if the perpetrator ever went to jail.

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