Tricia Helfer is one of the many actors who made a name for herself as a Hallmark star with her feel-good movies, “Operation Christmas” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” By then, she already had an extensive resumé, having been a model since she was 17 years old and then finding fame with her role in “Battlestar Galactica.” Because her character, Number Six, was complex despite being a robot, fans either loved or despised her. When the show ended and Helfer got the part of an FBI agent in “Dark Blue,” she told Page Six, “It’s great to play on the fun side and not be the one everyone hates. I remember when I first started ‘BSG’ thinking, ‘Everybody hates me!’ and my husband said, ‘You’re bad, they’re supposed to hate your character. That means you’re doing your job right.'”
Aside from some backlash from fans, Helfer has had a successful career, but moments in her personal life threatened to derail her happiness. Between a health scare and a public divorce, the “Mistletoe Over Manhattan” star proves that her life doesn’t always imitate her Hallmark movies’ happy endings.
Tricia Helfer divorced her husband of 13 years
Tricia Helfer was enjoying success in her career as a Hallmark actor and a recurring role in the hit show “Lucifer,” but sadly, her marriage to Jonathan Marshall took a nosedive. Helfer filed for divorce in 2018, listing irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split. The two, who had married in 2003, officially separated in May 2017, according to documents. A pre-nuptial agreement had been set between the former couple, and Helfer requested that both parties refuse spousal support.
Helfer and Marshall reached a settlement quickly and finalized their divorce in 2019, as reported by The Blast. Neither was required to give the other alimony, but Helfer got only $128,162 of their shared bank account, while Marshall pocketed over $1 million. It seems the actor is done with marriage, at least for the time being. When using words to predict her year in 2021, she cheekily tweeted, “I got Happiness. Famous. Married. Can I just take the first two?”
Tricia Helfer thought she lost her father in a freak accident
Tricia Helfer has been a staple in Hollywood for so long that many may not know she grew up on a rural farm in Canada. Having spent much of her childhood outdoors meant that there were natural catastrophes surrounding her. One such incident happened to her father when she was 12 years old. Helfer told The Washington Post that the moment occurred while walking back from picking berries with her family. “My dad was in front, and the four girls and my grandmother. She leaned against a tree to help stabilize herself, and it was a dead tree. It fell over and perfectly landed on my dad’s head 20 feet down. “We thought we lost him,” she stated. Thankfully, her father wasn’t seriously injured, and Helfer shared, “He came back to and miraculously wasn’t hurt except for a sore neck.”
Helfer’s father seems to be doing well, and the crew still has their farm. In 2023, she shared a pic of her family working on the grounds and wrote, “Garden wintering has started.” Hopefully, there were no dead trees around to give Helfer a scare.
Tricia Helfer underwent surgery for scoliosis
Many would look at Tricia Helfer and be envious of her figure, but it came at a cost to her health. “Growing up tall and skinny and being very athletic, having a bit of scoliosis as a kid, a bunch of things together [forced] back surgery in December ’09,” she explained in her chat with The Washington Post. The recovery wasn’t easy at first, she revealed, “The first two weeks were kind of hellish, but by month two, I was shooting ‘Two and a Half Men.’ By month three, I was filming a cop show, ‘Dark Blue’ on TNT.”
Five months later, Helfer shared X-rays of her spine on Facebook and told fans, “Hey y’all. Thought I’d post my new back & neck pics taken right after surgery. Maybe explain why I’ve been laid up for a while — I’m now part robot! Four artificial discs. Kudos to Dr. Lanman for keeping me upright and active with my new back!” The surgery left Helfer with a gnarly scar, but she made good use of it for a scene in “Lucifer.” She shared on X, formerly Twitter, “That was my real belly scar from back surgery y’all. Last season I had them stab me there on purpose so we could use the real scar!”
Tricia Helfer had heavy metal poisoning
Hair extensions are a fact of life for many actors, but Tricia Helfer had a one-time experience that proved to be life-threatening. In an interview with People, she dished that she once used clip-on hair extensions for a movie and started feeling ill after a couple of months. After feeling pain in her scalp and gums, Helfer’s hairstylist noticed patches of hair missing, prompting the “Burn Notice” star to remove the extensions. However, the feeling that something was off with her body wouldn’t go away, and she eventually sought the advice of a friend and got tested for heavy metal poisoning. It turned out that she had a large amount of lead in her system and underwent treatment for months.
When Helfer shared her story on X, fans thanked her for bringing light to lead poisoning. “Wow. So glad you’ve recovered. Hopefully, your story will help a lot of women,” one wrote. Another shared, “Thank you for sharing your story. I’m thinking now something similar happened to a friend. I’m glad you’re better now.”
Tricia Helfer had a hard time leaving Battlestar Galactica
“Battlestar Galactica” was Tricia Helfer’s first series, and the show was what launched her career, so she was understandably heartbroken when it ended in 2009. During an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos, Helfer revealed that it took about a year for the grieving process to kick in because the cast was still doing press interviews and making appearances. However, after they were done, Helfer was left feeling a bit lost and missing her co-stars. “When you spend five years of your life with people, and it is that family environment, these are the people that are going to be in my life for the rest of my life,” she stated.
In 2019, NBC announced that a reboot of “Battlestar Galactica” was in the works with Sam Esmail as the director. Helfer told Collider, “It did feel like a little bit of a punch to the gut because you kind of went, ‘Oh, this is serious.’ And he’s going to do a good rendition of it, whatever, and we’re not involved so it did kind of feel like … too soon.” Ultimately, the project was axed, but if NBC does move forward with it in the future, the show definitely won’t be the same without Helfer and her castmates.
