American actress and dancer with a film debut in “Bad Boys” in 1983. Before her screen career, she had danced professionally with the American Ballet Theater. She appeared in a number of “brat-pack” vehicles thru the ’80s. Her films include “Maid to Order” in 1987, “Betsy’s Wedding” in 1990 and “Only the Lonely” in 1991. “Maid to Order” flopped at the box office, which caused Sheedy to feel like a pariah. Offers for work soon became few and far between, and, for the next year-and-a-half, she received no work. Sheedy felt as if she belonged neither here nor there, so, to combat the feeling of loneliness, she began dabbling in Eastern religion and running ten miles a day.
At the age of 12 she wrote and published a well-received children’s book, “She Was Nice to Mice.”
Sheedy’s first significant relationship began in the summer of 1988 when, on a New York to L.A. flight, she met rock & roller Richie Sambora. Clad in a t-shirt and jeans, he told Sheedy that he was a guitarist in a band dubbed “Bon Jovi.” She found him to be “the most charming guy in the world, very polite and sweet.” A few weeks after that flight, Sambora asked Sheedy on a date; the next nine months with him were harrowing and extreme. After going on tour with Bon Jovi, Sheedy realized that Sambora was an alcoholic whose binging brought out a jealous and abusive personality. Alcohol was not his only problem, as Sambora was also heavily into drugs. Sheedy was never attracted to drugs or alcohol, as they made her paranoid and edgy. It was no surprise, then, that she was traumatized after Sambora literally shoved crystal meth up her nose on tour in Japan. Crystal meth was not the only drug introduced to Sheedy by way of Sambora, as he also turned her on to the sleeping pill Halcyon, telling her it was totally safe. Sheedy quickly became addicted to the pills, taking them just to get by. Frustrated with the situation, and unable to cope, she moved back to L.A. and vowed never to speak to Sambora again. Sheedy, after returning to L.A., continued taking Halcyon, as well as Xanax and an antidepressant, in order to deal with near daily panic attacks. One of the effects of Halcion included half-hour periods from which Sheedy could not remember a thing.
In April 1989, during one of these periods, Sheedy called a friend three times, having the exact same conversation each time. Friends, including Jane Fonda, soon organized an intervention for her at a hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, CA; within days Sheedy was at Hazelden, a rehab clinic in Minnesota. After finishing rehab, she moved back to New York with her family to try to make a fresh start; she was at the bottom of the Hollywood food chain, doing roles just to get money. The early ’90s were about the same as the ’80s work wise: embarrassment after embarrassment with a career going nowhere, fast.
In 1991, however, she did meet, and fall in love with, David Lansbury, Angela’s nephew, while they were cast-mates in the off-Broadway play “Advice From a Caterpillar.” They married on 10/10/1992; one daughter in 1994. The following year they separated.
Link to Wikipedia biography