After 20 years of auditions, heartbreak, and occasional breakthrough moments, Courtney Henggeler is officially done with Hollywood.
The Cobra Kai star, who played Amanda LaRusso across six seasons, announced she’s quitting acting in a raw and unfiltered post on her Substack. Her reason? The relentless hustle, the grind, and the emotional toll of surviving in an industry that dangles hope while handing out scraps.
“After 20 plus years of fighting the good fight in the acting business, I hung up my gloves on Friday,” she wrote. “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.’“
Henggeler, now 45, has spent years landing roles on shows like The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, and Mom, only to feel like a background blur. Even a line like “Sorry” on House, she says, felt like a victory. The rest of the time? “Crumbs,” she described. Delusion, exhaustion, and a golden goose forever just out of reach.
But it wasn’t all struggle. She openly admits that she made it further than most. She had her face on billboards. She worked under the direction of George Clooney. She lived the dream, at least on paper. “And I’m considered one of the lucky ones,” she admitted. “I was on a series. A successful series. I made money.”
Still, behind the wins was a voice telling her to walk away. Not because she hated acting. But because the gauntlet to get there, the rejections, the instability, the mental toll, was draining her joy.
“For years I silenced the voice in my head, begging me to walk away,” she wrote. “What once felt necessary, something I willingly participated in, even celebrated, became stifling.”
Courtney Henggeler’s departure isn’t a fall from grace, it’s a mic drop. She’s leaving the system on her terms, with clarity, not bitterness. And while Amanda LaRusso may be behind her, she’s made it clear: this exit isn’t a goodbye to creativity, it’s a reclamation of power.
And honestly? That might be the most badass role she’s played yet.
