The Will to Survive with Georgia Durante
In this blog post, I’m sharing the powerful interview I had with Georgia Durante. This incredible individual is a former stunt woman and model, business owner, mother, survivor, and so much more.
Georgia has such a compelling story that needs to be heard. I sat with her as she talked about her account, explained some of the things she learned throughout her journey, and shared her perspective on how she survived multiple traumas.
If you’d prefer to listen to the interview, feel free to do so on my podcast, “Initiated Survivor.” This episode is entitled “The Will to Survive with Georgia Durante” and is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
I also want to warn my readers that Georgia’s story discusses topics that may be triggering for some individuals. Please be mindful of your needs when reading.
All that said let’s dive in!
Georgia’s Story:
When Georgia Durante was 17 years old, she was raped by her brother-in-law. Upon realizing the atrocity he had just committed, he tried to kill her.
Immediately following the assault, he dragged her naked body into the snow-laden backyard of her home in Rochester, NY, and told her to start digging. Georgia knew that she was digging her own grave.
He wanted her dead and buried so her sister would never find out what he had done.
Georgia, being the quick thinker that she is, tells him that he can’t kill her because her modeling photographer, whom she was supposed to meet with later that day, knew they were together. Her rapist pulls her back into the house and tells Georgia to call him and give him a different story so he isn’t suspected.
She instead calls her aunt and pretends to be talking to her photographer. It was 4am, so her aunt automatically knew something was wrong and recruited the help of her son, who’s a cop.
Georgia’s brother-in-law eventually figured out what she was doing, but right before he had the chance to hang up the phone, she was able to give her aunt and cousin her location. Within 5 minutes, the police arrived.
Georgia took him to court. Unfortunately, like many sexual assault victims, she was revictimized by the justice system. She said, “Having the case turn on me was the thing that really stuck with me.”
This trauma manifested in her a sense of worthlessness. She even tried taking her own life because of it. Ultimately, she tried her best to continue on with life without dealing with what had happened. Georgia had plans to go to college but was completely rerouted after the experience.
Through a series of circumstances during an extremely vulnerable time in her life, she began hanging out with members of the Mafia and ended up driving their getaway cars.
A mob war broke out, and they started killing anyone who knew anything about their operation.
Georgia knew too much.
She was able to escape to California with her 7-year-old daughter to hide from the mob AND her abusive husband.
Her main source of income up until that point had been modeling. She knew that if she continued with that work and continued putting her face out there for everyone to see, the people she was running from would find her.
After experiencing homelessness for a period of time, she contacted an old modeling friend who let her and her daughter stay in his studio apartment until they could get back on their feet.
During this stint, she watched a lot of TV and made note of all the car commercials. She noticed that in these car commercials, the drivers were never shown. Georgia immediately knew that this was how she could make a living again but didn’t know how being that no one wanted to hire women in the 70s.
Georgia had connections with actors in the area, and they would tell her when commercials were being shot nearby. She would show up to the shoots and beg the directors to put her in.
Eventually, one of them gave her a shot.
After that initial director was impressed with her work, he told other directors, who told other directors, and so on and so forth. The next thing she knew, she was turning down work!
Much time had passed, and she was consistently supporting her and her daughter.
That was not the end of her story.
In the 90s, she was doing a commercial for Ferrari in Bodega Bay. The shot required a 180-degree spin on a narrow mountain road. While filming the stunt, the back tire of the vehicle caught the soft shoulder and flipped over the embankment.
As Georgia was somersaulting to her death, her only thought was how she was wrecking a $250,000 car. She miraculously survived and was pulled from the wreckage. As she was en route to the hospital via ambulance, she wondered why this was her main concern.
Because of this, she decided to go see a therapist.
Her therapist suggested that she start journaling for just 20 minutes a day - whatever came to mind. Once Georgia began writing out her thoughts, all this stuff came to the surface.
Years and years of unresolved trauma, memories, relationships, and life began spilling out of her for her to analyze finally.
One day, as she was writing, a voice appeared in her mind. She named this voice Georgia Black. Georgia Black was the protector. Georgia White was the vulnerable, innocent side of her, but Georgia Black stepped in when help was needed.
She attributes Georgia Black to coming up with the plan to call her aunt after she was raped.
She began adding dialogue to her journaling. Once she realized she had about 40 pages of a raw journal, she reached out to her friend and esteemed writer, Sidney Sheldon. Sidney told her to send him what she had, and he was very impressed by her writing.
He advised her on character development and plot writing so she could turn her life story into a book.
Georgia finished it quickly and sent it to a few publishers. The first publisher who read it bought it within 24 hours.
The Company She Keeps
Georgia panicked and suddenly started to worry that she would never work again once people learned about her time in the mob and all that she had done with them. But she believes it was her raw honesty that drew people in and made her most relatable.
She worked more than she ever had before after her story was published.
It was clear that her story touched numerous survivors who had experienced similar traumas, rapes, and abuses but never felt they could speak about them.
Loads of emails from survivors came pouring in! Georgia tried helping them on an individual level but soon realized that it was impossible to keep up with the demand.
She also recognized that she was not a therapist and that what worked for her may not work for everyone, so she started visiting prisons and shelters to speak with women and share her story in a group setting. She wanted to help show them that they are special and worthy.
These women needed someone to show them that.
In addition to writing her own book and being a beacon of light for women struggling with trauma and poor self-worth, Georgia has since opened up a successful stunt-driving company in Hollywood.
She truly has lived an awe-spiring life!
Trauma and Self Worth
Georgia’s story has been life-changing for so many women, including me. This idea of unworthiness definitely rings true for so many survivors.
Often after trauma, people who feel unworthy surround themselves with people they believe are their equals. It is typically during this time that individuals will get mixed up in crowds that take advantage of them and their vulnerability.
I don’t particularly like using the word “reckless” to describe behaviors exhibited during times like this because it implies someone is selfishly having a grand time and not caring about the hurt they cause. This period after trauma is more of an inability to sense a limit to their impetuous behavior because the worst has already happened, and maybe no one helped, or nothing resulted in the change they needed.
When you can’t feel your life has meaning or value, you don’t care how it turns out anymore, and this is a place that so many survivors find themselves in.
The main piece of advice Georgia wants to share is this: when you believe in yourself, you can do anything, but it might take a while to get there. You need to surround yourself with people that can help get you there.
Sometimes when we can’t believe in ourselves, connecting with people that know how to believe in themselves and us can help restore that sense back to us.
It goes to show how important sharing your story truly is. Willingness to put yourself out there can result in finding yourself again.
Sheer Will
Ultimately, what I think is the most powerful part of her story is the sheer will to keep going. Writing was a huge turning point for Georgia. She hadn't truly analyzed her life and what she had gone through until then. By writing, she resolved so many issues not only for herself but for so many other women.
Interviewing and listening to the stories of the people I interview demonstrates how powerful both sides of the story are; of being the teller and being able to declare, “This is who I am, and this is my life,” and also being the listener and how comforting it is knowing you are not alone. Being trusted with the most intimate parts of people is invaluable.
It was a privilege talking with Georgia Durante. We truly just scratched the surface in this interview. There are so many layers that we couldn’t touch on, but I highly encourage everyone to read her book The Company She Keeps.
Visit her website for more about her work!
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Always remember, you are not alone. You are worthy. You are special.
Want to learn more about YOUR specific trauma recovery style? Take the QUIZ and get unique skills specific to you!
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