Rose said she suffered two herniated discs near her spinal cord while doing stunts as she filmed the superhero series
Credit: Katie Yu/The CW
Warning: This contains spoilers for the season 5 premiere of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
NEED TO KNOW
- In the premiere episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test season 5, Ruby Rose opened up about her health struggles stemming from injuries she says she sustained while filming Batwoman in 2019
- She revealed she has two replacement discs after breaking her neck twice, impacting her ability to perform stunts
- Rose also reflected on losing confidence in herself during the competition
Ruby Rose got candid about her health while on the premiere episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
The actress is one of the 15 celebrities starring in the fifth season of the series, which sees famous people from across Hollywood test what they’re made of in Asia. In the episode, Rose shared that she went into the show with some challenges.
She quit CW’s adaptation of Batwoman after the its first season, which aired from October 2019 to May 2020. At the time, she says she was close to becoming paralyzed because of two herniated discs near her spinal cord from the stunts she performed.
Credit: Jeffery Garland/The CW
As the first challenge commenced, Rose said she loved playing an action superstar, but it had its downside.
“Kicking butt was one of the joys in my life — but it also ended up being the end,” she said.
After failing to fall out of a helicopter backward and land in a body of water like the other competitors, Rose had to reveal her health condition.
Credit: Pete Dadds/FOX
“I’ve always done all of my own stunts, so I could turn up as Ruby: the action star,” she said in a confession. “But I had an accident in 2019 on set of Batwoman and everything just sort of got bad from there”
After castmate Candace Cameron Bure asked what was going on, Rose said, “I broke my neck, like, twice already, so I’ve got two replacement discs.”
“There was no bouncing back,” said Rose in the confessional. “There was no part of me left. It was just the shell. Four years of my life — gone.”
After Brandi Glanville had to be “medically withdrawn” from the competition, the group went down to 14 competitors.
During a late-night obstacle course, Rose’s injury came up again when she struggled to hold up a sandbag.
Credit: Pete Dadds/ FOX
“The second I think that I’m failing tasks and it’s slowing down the others or it’s impacting the group, that will start to play on the sort of confidence and the belief in myself,” she said during a confessional.
To motivate her, one of the show’s directors told her, “I watched you as a superhero — come on!”
“Eventually it’s like, I’m not really that action star, am I? I’m just Ruby,” she says in a confessional.
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The revelation comes months after Rose shared that she had broken two ribs in an accident at her home in June. In a clip she shared to social media at the time, the actress can be seen slipping and falling into her pool.
“RIP to my ribs and to the rest of my summer. They are broken, multiple 🤣,” she wrote over the clip, which was accompanied by the 1990 song “There She Goes” by The La’s. “Straight to hospital, did not pass go or collect 200 dollars.”
New episodes of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.
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