She took a department store job and studied psychology, but heeded the advice of casting director Hoyt Bowers and Walt Disney, who had told her, "Whatever you do, keep working at your craft".

Though she had nearly two decades' worth of film and television credits already, she first came to national prominence in the 1980s series It's a Living,[2] a sitcom that elevated Jillian to sex symbol status in 1980.

The sitcom aired for two seasons on ABC before being cancelled due to low ratings and was sold into syndication for the burgeoning cable television market.

The same year, she appeared in the miniseries Malibu, starring Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint and James Coburn.

Bob Hope selected her to appear in six of his television specials, including two, entertaining U.S. troops stationed in Beirut (1984) and Saudi Arabia (1991).

She guest starred in television specials for Don Rickles (1986) and David Copperfield (1987) and was on the dais at The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for Mr. T (1984).

She continued to act, with ten TV movie roles throughout the 1990s, although her television and film credits became sporadic since the late 1990s, as she decided to devote herself to raising her son and to promoting breast cancer issues.

The film required two years to be produced, due to conflicts in tone, the degree of medical information included, and the relatively limited, realistic reaction portrayed by Jillian and her stage husband, before and after her surgery.