Stuntwoman Escapes LA by Turning World Into One Long, Expensive Chase Scene

Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash

KEY POINTS

•At age 37, LA stuntwoman Sharonda Scott left Hollywood due to industry strikes and dwindling work opportunities in early 2024.
•She embarked on a 15-month gap year visiting 35 countries, traveling solo with a $500 maximum plane ticket budget and family joining intermittently.
•After experiencing global adventures from zip-lining in Cape Verde to cage-diving with crocodiles in Zimbabwe, she now faces reverse culture shock back home and plans to live abroad.

Sharonda Scott, 37, stunt double for Miranda Bailey on 'Grey's Anatomy,' tapped out of Hollywood stunts in early 2024 amid strikes and stalled auditions. Exhausted by LA's 'luxury and stress,' she sold her apartment, broke her lease, and rented out her car simply to fund a gap year that morphed into 15 months and 35 countries traveling solo with a $500 plane ticket ceiling. From zip-lining in Cape Verde to cage-diving with crocs in Zimbabwe, and paragliding over Rio during Carnival, she even got her divemaster cert in the Philippines. Her mom overcame a flying phobia to join, proving family guilt trips have limits. Now, back in the hustle-and-bustle US, she’s battling reverse culture shock and Hollywood’s decentralization while plotting an escape hatch abroad. Her advice? Don't overthink it; just sell your stuff and hope for the best—a plan Hollywood stunt coordinators would appreciate.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Only in LA does a stuntwoman find chasing auditions more stressful than being chased by crocodiles in Zimbabwe. Life’s greatest trick: swapping Hollywood stunts for global chaos with a $500 budget and a suitcase of existential dread.

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