Success Hasn't Spoiled Heather Donahue

Blair Witch Project babe Heather Donahue's solid upbringing helped her cope with the rush of success she experienced last summer when the indie horror flick made her the flavor du jour. "I think if I were not me, and didn't grow up with my parents and my background, I would probably be nodding off on a stoop in the East Village right now," she tells TV Guide Online.

The key to dealing with what happened last summer... it feels like talking about something so horrible, like when Aunt Maggie died," Donahue tries to explain. "It was about keeping it at a distance and never acknowledging that something was happening to me, because it wasn't about me; it was about something else. I'm not, still not, quite sure what it was, but it was certainly not my baby anymore. It was when I worked on it, and then it goes into other hands. Do you know what I mean?"

Sorta... but surely Donahue, soon to be seen with Jason Biggs in Boys and Girls, must have reaped some reward from Blair Witchmania. "Like, I really don't think it changed my life, the core of what I consider my life," she says. "It changed my career prospects, but that was about it, actually. I don't temp anymore, I have a reliable car and health insurance."

Other than that, it's status quo for the actress. "My sense of humor about the industry and myself has not changed. My friends have not changed. I haven't changed where I live or the restaurants I go to, or what I do on the weekends."

You know, there is something to be said for starlets who let their fame go to their heads.