Why Courtney Henggeler Is ‘Grateful’ To Play Ralph Macchio’s Wife

Getty Courtney Henggeler poses at the LA Family Housing Annual LAFH Awards And Fundraiser Celebration in 2019.

On July 13, it was announced that the acclaimed series “Cobra Kai” has been nominated in four Emmy categories. The show’s cast and crew took to Instagram to celebrate the nominations, which include Outstanding Comedy Series. For instance, Courtney Henggeler shared a compilation video that showed images from “Cobra Kai” season 3. In the caption of the Instagram post, uploaded on July 14, the actress wrote that she is thankful to portray Ralph Macchio’s on-screen spouse, Amanda LaRusso, for few reasons. 

“It’s days like today that I’m grateful to be pretend-married to @ralph_macchio Mostly because I use his name to get free @ny_islanders swag But also for the Emmy Noms,” read a portion of the post. 

Henggeler also addressed the show’s creators, Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg in the caption.

“@jonhurwitz @healdrules & @haydenschlossberg101 if it didn’t border on polygamy and making my husband super uncomfortable, I’d be honored to be pretend-married to you too. I think I speak for all of us when I say, Thank you for creating @cobrakaiseries,” wrote the actress, along with a red heart emoji. 

Quite a few fans flocked to the comments section to congratulate Henggeler on the show’s nominations. 

“Congrats all around!! [Champagne bottle, black heart, and fist emoji] and can we please have more Courtney in S4?!!” wrote one fan. 

“Many congratulations. Well deserved!!!” added another follower. 

“Yay I love this show and congrats,” chimed in a third Instagram user. 

Courtney Henggeler Has Previously Spoken About Ralph Macchio

This is not the first time that Henggeler has spoken positively about Ralph Macchio. While speaking to CBS Los Angeles in January 2021, the actress suggested that she admired his “professionalism.”

“Ralph always has a million stories and you feel like you’ll never catch up to the body of work that he has and his experience. Being with him, you just want to keep your game up. You always want to be just right there with him and keep fighting to get a little closer to his level of professionalism,” explained the mother-of-two. 

The Actress Revealed That She Had Some Difficulty Adjusting To Having Macchio as a Co-Star

During a January 2021 interview with Newsday, the actress discussed having Macchio and William “Billy” Zabka, who portrays Johnny Lawrence, as co-stars. 

“Ralph and Billy could not be more lovely, but it was very surreal,” said the actress. 

The 42-year-old then revealed that she had somewhat of a difficult time adjusting to the fact that she was playing Macchio’s love interest. 

“I called Ralph ‘Ralph Macchio’ — one word. I couldn’t get over the fact that this was my TV husband I’m talking to. And off-set we’re talking about our kids! Like, I’m talking about Ralph Macchio’s kids? He was like, ‘It’s just Ralph. You can just call me Ralph.’ That finally stopped around Season Three,” said the actress. 

While speaking to Newsday, Henggeler also mentioned that she “decided [she] was quitting acting” after her son, Oscar, was born in 2017, meaning that she was almost not in “Cobra Kai.” 

“It was exhausting and I just wasn’t getting any further. I told my husband, ‘I think I’m done.’ He was like, ‘That is amazing. I support you in whatever you want. However, we get our health insurance through SAG [the Screen Actors Guild]. Can you hang in there a little longer until we find a plan B?’ Within the next week I think I got the audition for ‘Cobra Kai,’” explained the actress. 

READ NEXT: Cobra Kai Creator Hints at Tory & Sam’s Storylines in Season 4