<p id=”par-1_56″>The <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/movies/”>movie</a> <em>The Blair Witch Project </em>made a star out of Heather Donahue, and is partially responsible for <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-blair-witch-project-where-is-heather-donahue-now.html/”>where she is now </a>in life. But she didn’t have the same fortune in other movies she’d starred in. Eventually, Donahue became disillusioned with the film industry, and went to extreme lengths to burn her bridges with Hollywood.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-heather-donahue-gave-hollywood-a-very-symbolic-farewell”>Heather Donahue gave Hollywood a very symbolic farewell</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/The-Blair-Witch-Heather-Donahue.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Heather Donahue posing at the MTV Awards in 1999.” class=”wp-image-3769209″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Heather Donahue | Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_119″>Donahue and her <em>Blair Witch </em>castmates were everywhere after the release of <em>The Blair Witch Project</em>. But the recognition she received for her critically acclaimed performance didn’t seem to benefit her acting career in the long term. After <em>Blair Witch</em>, Donahue took roles in romantic comedies like <em>Boys and Girls </em>and <em>Seven and a Match</em>. She returned to her horror roots for her final movie, 2008’s <em>The Morgue</em>, before leaving the film industry. After she quit acting, the last movie she was seen in was the 2016 sequel <em>Blair Witch</em>, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/news-blair-witch-remake-filled-heather-donahue-vast-nameless-dread.html/”>which filled Donahue with dread</a>. In a resurfaced interview she did with the <em>Philadelphia Inquirer </em>(via <a href=”https://people.com/celebrity/blair-witch-actress-heather-donahue-quit-acting-to-grow-pot/”>People</a>), Donahue confided that she officially left Hollywood behind with a grand gesture.</p>
<p id=”par-3_19″>“I took all my stuff into the desert related to my acting career and burned it all,” she said.</p>
<p id=”par-4_25″>However, she did retain a few mementos from her <em>Blair Witch </em>days, one of them being the blue cap she wore on her movie’s poster.</p>
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<iframe title=”The Blair Witch Project (1999) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/MBZ-POVsrlI?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-5_22″><a></a>“That’s the only thing I kept,” she said. “I figured if things got really bad, I could always sell it on eBay.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_32″>As for why Donahue quit acting, she simply didn’t think any of her post-<em>Blair Witch </em>roles were fulfilling. So, she went to see if life offered her a more enriching purpose elsewhere.</p>
<p id=”par-7_56″>“The acting projects I was lucky enough to work on weren t always things that I felt good about putting out into the world,” Donahue said. “I didn t see that getting better as I got older. I wanted to change my life, see what else was out there for me, what else I might become.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_23″>Donahue also didn’t burn the flannel shirt she wore in the movie. Instead, she gifted the shirt to a homeless man in need.</p>
<p id=”par-9_71″>“But it was to hot for LA so he threw it over the fence of this abandoned liquor store where my friend Mr. Kim had been shot in the face. I watched it bake in the sun each day as I would walk by. About six months after I moved, I went back and it was gone. I still have cap,” she once said in an interview with <a href=”https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/blair-witch-actress-reveals-real-279503/#”>The Hollywood Reporter</a>.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-why-heather-donahue-felt-she-didn-t-receive-more-work-after-the-blair-witch-project”>Why Heather Donahue felt she didn’t receive more work after ‘The Blair Witch Project’</h2>
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<iframe title=”The Blair Witch Project (1/8) Movie CLIP – Blair Witch Interviews (1999) HD” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/ntgrRUML2ic?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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‘The Blair Witch Project’ Stars Had No Clue About This Famous Scene Until They Saw It In Theaters </a>
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<p id=”par-10_62″><em>The Blair Witch Project</em> was a catch-22 for Donahue. It launched her career in the short term, although she and her castmates <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-blair-witch-project-the-main-cast-was-only-paid-1000-a-day.html/”>only received $1000 a day</a> for their efforts in the film. It also stalled her film career in the long term. She became known as<em> The Blair Witch</em> girl, a moniker she became used to and took full accountability for.</p>
<p id=”par-11_18″>“It’s my own fault for that confessional scene. I have no one to blame but myself,” she said.</p>
<p id=”par-12_39″>In a 2003 interview with <a href=”https://filmfreakcentral.net/2003/07/witchy-woman-ffc-interviews-heather-donahue/”>Film Freak Central</a>, Donahue theorized that her lack of success in the film industry came down to two things. The first was her connection to <em>The Blair Witch</em>, and the second was her looks.</p>
<p id=”par-13_86″>“I’m not the beautiful one. That, and the <em>Blair Witch</em> backlash, of course. It’s given me a lot of time to do other things, so I can’t really complain–I mean, I’ve really had a lucky life and I know that, but I’d love to work more, no question. Sometimes I see what’s out there and I’m happy not to be working, y’know, it can be soul-sucking out there–it becomes about a lot of different things sometimes, this job, but a steady diet of anything is bland,” she said.</p>