[2] Her father was an Irish American ex-United States Navy from Nebraska, while her mother was from La Junta, Colorado.

[8] McDonough was subsequently cast in a lead role in the slasher horror film Mortuary (1983), opposite Lynda Day George and Bill Paxton.

[10][11] In the 2000s, she returned to other television acting roles, guest-starring on Boston Legal (2004–2008 on ABC) and The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010 on CBS).

In 2018, McDonough's book Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane was adapted into the Hallmark Channel film of the same name starring Alicia Witt and Colin Ferguson.

McDonough suffers from lupus erythematosus, which, she claimed on her In the Know plastic surgery awareness website, stemmed from leaking silicone from her breast implants.