Courtney Henggeler, 46, plays Ralph Macchio’s wife Amanda LaRusso on Cobra Kai, one of the most beloved and watched Netflix series. I saw all six seasons of that show and while I can’t say I’ll watch it again I was delighted at how entertaining and well-written it remained up until the end. It’s rare that a series remains watchable for that long. There are popular shows with uneven episodes in just the first season. (I’m looking at you, Paradise.) Courtney, 46, is a jobbing character actress who has guested on series like Mom and The Big Bang Theory and landed smaller roles in films including 2023’s The Boys in The Boat, directed by George Clooney. In a new post on Substack, Courtney announced that she’s quitting this bitch. She wrote that she’s done acting after 20 years. It sounds like she’s ready to direct and make her own content. I like how straightforward and terse this is although I’ve edited some of it to excerpt.

After 20 plus years of fighting the good fight in the acting business, I hung up my gloves on Friday.

I called my agents and told them I was tapping out. I no longer wanted to be a cog in the wheel of the machine.

When prompted to know what I did want to do, I simply replied “I want to be the machine”

All I’ve ever known in my professional life was acting. But not even the art or craft of acting. All I’ve truly ever knew was the hustle. The hustle, the grind, sprinkled occassionally with the odd acting job. Perhaps a line or two to TV’s Dr. House – “Sorry” (that’s it. That was my line. Genius)…

And when all was said and done (or mimed. Sometimes, you gotta mime) it was back to the grind. Back to the wheel. Back to the machine.

We survived off the crumbs. We filled our cup with the possibility; our mugs with delusion. Our plates were empty, but a golden goose hung over our heads. Today might be the day. Today might be the day I reach the golden goose.

20 plus years of this… And I’m considered one of the lucky ones. I was on a series. A successful series. I made money. My face was on the billboards I longed for 20 plus years. I was directed by George Clooney for godsakes. This by all definitions is the golden goose.

For years I silenced the voice in my head, begging me to walk away. The voice, the constant gnawing. Not because of the acting itself. But because of the gauntlet I had to run to reach the acting. What once felt necessary, something I willingly participated, even celebrated, became stifling.

What if we choose to believe we have the power?…

What if we never needed to run the gauntlet?

What if we are the gauntlet?

[From Substack via People]

Good for her! Back in the day I used to own a VHS copy of Jerry MaGuire. His letter quitting his job is one of the best of all time. I love a good “fck this job” missive, particularly in these troubling times. Part of the reason I started this site was because I tried working for other people and found it frustrating at best. So many friends have told me stories about how toxic their workplaces are, and I can only imagine what it’s like for actresses in an industry built around commoditizing everything about them. I wish Courtney the best moving forward and hope that she does just what she wants and how she wants it. You can follow her Substack here. As a woman around her age, I found her stories sadly relatable.