Lights, Camera, Devastation!

Stuntwoman Olivia Jackson’s life was shattered by a horrific accident. Five years later she’s finally received some compensation

- Jacques Myburgh

Life use to be one big action adventure, travelling the world and performing feat after daredevil feat for some of the movie world’s biggest stars. But everything changed in a heartbeat five years ago when a stunt went catastrophically wrong – and Olivia Jackson has the scars and the loss of an arm to show for it.

What she doesn’t have – yet – is any compensation for her near-death experience.

She tried for years to get some kind of settlement, starting legal proceedings in South Africa, as well as in the USA, but due to jurisdiction laws the matter had to be dealt with in SA.

And now finally it seems she’ll have a measure of justice. A judge of the high court in Pretoria recently ruled Olivia (38) should be compensated by the Road Accident Fund (RAF) as the accident happened involving motor vehicles.

But for South African-born Olivia, the victory is bittersweet.

It can take years for lawyers and the RAF to agree on a settlement amount – and money will never bring back her old life. “I live in constant pain, not only physical but mental,” she says. “And the people who caused the accident are still living their lives as if nothing happened.”

Olivia has worked on 30 movies including Mad Max: Fury Road, Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, standing in for A-listers such as Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Milla Jovovich.

But one day in 2015 on the N4 highway near Pretoria, everything changed in the blink of an eye.