Viola Davis Just Went Skydiving For the First Time at 53

As an Oscar-winning actress, there isn’t a part that Viola Davis can’t play. Well, okay, maybe just one: a confident skydiver. When the Widows star was gearing up take the plunge, and try her hand at jumping out of a plane, she couldn’t even pretend to be cool with it.

While Davis was in Hawaii with her family, she took a solo trip to a skydiving center and decided to document her journey on Instagram. “I’m feeling a little anxious but I’m ready. I feel alive,” she said in a video, posted to her account, after her instructor asked how she was feeling before they took off in a plane. “My will is done: signed, sealed, delivered. As long as you’re not nervous, I’m good.”

But Davis seemed anything other than good right when she and her instructor first launched out of the plane. Between video shots of her mouth wide open as they got a space-like, birds eye view of Hawaii, Davis shouted “Holy sh-t, holy f-ck. Oh my god.”

Then something amazing happened:she started singing Montell Jordan’s 1995 hit “This Is How We Do It.” Within seconds of launching out of the plane, Davis was noticeably more at ease. When she finally parachuted to the ground, her instructor took a video of her afterglow. “Alright, here we are on the ground. Sky dive number one. What’d you think?,” he asked her, to which she replied, “Awesome!”

Davis later shared more about her experience on Instagram when she posted videos from the trip. “So….I jumped out of a plane. Yup. I did it. 12,000 ft and 100mph drop,” she wrote. For Davis, the experience was a necessary one to get out of her head.

“It was awesome and the ultimate exercise in letting go, tackling my fears and freedom,” she added. “Loved it!!! As a smart woman once said, ‘Courage is fear said with prayers.’ #BlackGirlMagicOrBlackGirlCrazy #GladIDidntWearAWig #WalkingInto2019WithASword #ForgiveMeForMyCussWordsAndJackedUpHair”

Quickly after, her comments filled up with things like “Go! Go! Go!,” from How to Get Away with Murder creator Shonda Rhimes, and “WOW!! ?” from Reese Witherspoon. Director Ava DuVernay also applauded Davis, writing, “Thanks for that experience! And with a brother too! Love it! That’s all I needed was to see you do it. Now I don’t have to!” And, honestly, same.