Sheila met spouse Peter Donaldson while doing an aerobics warm-up (she was the instructor) while in a punk-rock production of "Godspell" at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario in 1983. With Donaldson (whose father was a Commodore of the Canadian Steamship Line), she had two daughters: one born in 1992 and one born in 1988. Before Donaldson's death, they lived in Stratford, Ontario in a century-old home that is known to be free of "bohemian exuberance" - Ridpath sofas, club chairs, oriental carpets. The one concession to McCarthy's whimsy is the stainless steel and chrome-clad kitchen with the ceiling covered in retro pressed-tin squares. In the summer of 2004, she played in "Guys and Dolls" and "Anything Goes" in the Stratford Festival.