Job offers were not long in making an appearance, and the producers of several television series – such as Happy Days (1982-1983), Webster (1983) o In search of lost loves (1984) – they counted on her promptly, taking advantage of the benefits of her media pull. But the ‘Poltergeistmanía’ led to the release in theaters in 1986 of the long-awaited sequel to his first film, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, where the haunting Carol Anne – who, of course, still has extrasensory powers – is shown chatting with her recently deceased grandmother on a toy phone. This installment is quite forgettable – Heather herself would come to comment that the movie seemed “too boring” and that “I don’t think it scares anyone” – but there is no doubt that it served for the nice girl to become part of the Hollywood history.
The life of the already pre-adolescent actress was going from strength to strength when, in January 1987, she began to have symptoms similar to those of the common flu. At first, the doctors told him that it was a simple flu. But the symptoms continued, and on the day that Heather’s legs and feet swelled up, her parents visited the doctor again, who this time informed them that the girl had giardiasis – an intestinal disease caused by a parasite microscopic — and prescribed an antiparasitic. Shortly before filming began on her next project, her forward-thinking mother took her for a medical check-up to make sure everything was in order, and after taking an X-ray of Heather, the doctors discovered that the parasite had disappeared, but that his gut was still somewhat inflamed from what they thought was the Crohn’s disease —Consisting of a chronic inflammation of the intestine. The new medical report forced Heather to be on medication throughout the filming of Poltergeist III (1988). The cortisone and sulfonamide she was taking would explain why her face and neck appear noticeably swollen on the tape — although she never complained about anything during the shoot. The actress did end up a little sick from playing the popular Carol Anne over and over again. So much so that he once publicly commented that, in the event that a fourth installment of the saga were to be filmed, that would be the last time he would bring this character to life. In other words, he didn’t want to be pigeonholed for the world. “I want to continue acting, but I want to be a director. I was thinking about that for a while. A couple of years ago, I decided that working behind the camera would be a different experience. And I could also write scripts,” he confessed on one occasion.
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