Ruby Rose Discusses Career-Altering Batwoman Injury
The actress revealed a broken neck suffered on set cost her four years of her life and nearly led to paralysis.
Ruby Rose has disclosed the extent of a severe injury sustained on the set of the television series Batwoman, stating that a broken neck resulted in a four-year period of recovery and significantly impacted her career. Rose, who portrayed the titular character from 2019 to 2020, shared these details during an episode of her reality TV series, Special Forces.
She explained that she had always performed her own stunts, but an accident in 2019 on the Batwoman set led to a cascade of negative consequences. At the time, Rose was reportedly close to permanent paralysis after suffering two herniated discs near her spinal cord due to a stunt gone wrong. The actress revealed she had broken her neck twice and required two replacement discs.
"There was no bouncing back, there was no part of me left, I was just a shell. Four years of my life gone," Rose stated on the show. She added, "Eventually it's like, I'm not really that action star, am I? I'm just Ruby."
Following the injury, Rose departed Batwoman after its first season and temporarily halted her acting career to concentrate on her recovery. This was not the only injury she experienced during her time on the superhero show. In 2019, Rose had spoken about undergoing back surgery after another injury on set.
Initially, colleagues believed she had only fractured a rib, but after weeks of persistent pain, she sought medical attention. An MRI scan revealed the severity of the injury. While filming a movie in Romania, Rose received a call from her doctor instructing her to return to the U.S. for emergency surgery, warning of the risk of becoming paraplegic if she did not seek immediate treatment.
Before her diagnosis, Rose reported experiencing a loss of sensation in her arms, which she had grown accustomed to, despite frequently dropping objects. Post-surgery, she was immobilized for ten days, a period she described as leading to depression.
Rose gained international recognition for her role in Netflix's Orange Is the New Black before appearing in films such as John Wick: Chapter 2, The Meg, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and XXX: Return of Xander Cage.