‘Special Forces’: What Happened to Ruby Rose? ‘Batwoman’ Injury & More

Warning: The following post contains discussions of suicide.

Ruby Rose is returning to the spotlight on Season 5 of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. The Orange Is the New Black star is known for action roles and doing a lot of her own stunts, but she’s had to be much more careful in recent years due to past injuries.

Of course, the Special Forces course is also quite taxing and grueling, which could take a toll on Rose. Ahead of her debut on the show, scroll down to learn about the past injuries she’s dealt with and more.

What happened to Ruby Rose?

In 2019, Rose was injured on the set of Batwoman. “I had two herniated discs doing stunts, and they were close to severing my spinal cord,” she revealed in an Instagram post. “I was in chronic pain and yet couldn’t feel my arms.”

The actress later told Entertainment Weekly that she didn’t know the full extent of her injuries until she began filming her movie The Doorman, which came out in 2020.

“I [basically] broke my neck on the show,” Rose later said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “I did this stunt for a very extended amount of time, like seven hours. We thought that I broke a rib or just fractured a rib, and that was, like, six to 12 weeks of healing.”

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But after dealing with “chronic pain” for those weeks, doctors warned her the injury was actually in her neck.

What surgery did Ruby Rose have?

Rose was told she risked becoming paralyzed if she didn’t have emergency surgery. “I finally got an MRI, and I had to get it in Romania in the middle of a film where I was also doing stunts,” she told Fallon, adding that her doctor called and warned her, “You could become paraplegic.”

He explained, “You have this tiny amount of your spine that’s not severed, and if you don’t get back, you could become paraplegic.” Rose added that “even just sleeping wrong or moving [her] head in a strange direction” could have affected her at that point.

“I had my surgery, and then 10 days later I went to work, which maybe wasn’t the best idea,” she admitted to EW, adding that returning to set so quickly made being the lead of Batwoman even more taxing. “Most people take about a month or three off before they return to work, so it was definitely made more difficult by that.”

In Rose’s Instagram video, her doctor explained exactly what happened during the surgery. “We cleaned everything up and put in two artificial discs in, so she’ll have pieces that will twist, turn, bend, and move like a disc, and will regain full range of motion,” he said. “She can go back to stunts and workouts, and most importantly, now she’s safe.”

This followed a previous back surgery that Rose had in 2018. “So…for the past few years (decade) I’ve been dealing with a spine issue,” she shared on Twitter (now X) at the time. “I am now recovering from a back procedure, but I do need to stay active, so before I get seen with my cane and wheelchair in public, I’d rather put it out there that I’m fine and going to be fine.”

What condition does Ruby Rose have?

Rose has also dealt with mental health struggles over the years. On World Mental Health Day in 2019, she revealed in a now-deleted Instagram post, “I was first diagnosed with depression at 13, then major depressive disorder at 16. When I was 18 I found out I had dissociative amnesia.”

Per Cleveland Clinic, dissociative amnesia is “when you can’t remember important information (generally ‘distressing or upsetting’ events) about yourself.”

Rose explained, “I found out I went from a smiling, laughing child to a quiet mute who sat alone and stared off to the distance during recess after one of many traumatic events that I didn’t remember.” Her mother eventually told her about the traumatic incident, adding that doctors felt she was too young to know more beforehand.

She revealed that she had attempted suicide when she was as young as 12 years old. It wasn’t until she got a brain scan, followed by more tests and extensive therapy, that she found out she was suffering from Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), a form of PTSD that develops from traumatic events that happen over a period of time, rather than a single experience.

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Season 5 Premiere, Thursday, September 24, 9/8c, Fox

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or dial 988. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.