Ruby Rose Says She Broke Her Neck Twice on 'Batwoman'

The actor told fellow contestants on the Fox reality series that her 2019 on-set injury left her feeling like "just the shell," and her past allegations against Katy Perry were also referenced in the season premiere.

 

Ruby Rose is speaking candidly about the injury that changed the course of her career.

During the season 5 premiere of Fox's Special Forces: World's Toughest Test, which aired Thursday, the 40-year-old actor told her fellow contestants that she broke her neck twice while working on The CW's Batwoman. Rose said the 2019 accident nearly severed her spinal cord and required emergency neck surgery after she herniated two discs.

"I've always done all of my own stunts, so I could turn up as Ruby: the action star," she said on the show. "But I had an accident in 2019 on set of Batwoman and everything just sort of got bad from there."

Ruby Rose is among 15 celebrities competing on the Fox reality series' fifth season, set in the Malaysian jungle.

A Career Built on Stunts, Then a Life-Changing Accident

Rose, one of 15 celebrities competing on the military-style training course set in the Malaysian jungle, described how the injury affected both her body and her sense of self. She explained that she now has two replacement discs in her neck.

"There was no bouncing back," Rose said in a confessional interview. "There was no part of me left. It was just the shell. Four years of my life — gone."

The injury was visible during the premiere's first challenge, which required contestants to fall backward out of a helicopter and land in a body of water. Rose chose to jump feet first instead. When castmate Candace Cameron Bure asked about her different approach, Rose replied, "I broke my neck, like, twice already. I've got two replacement discs."

She confirmed the injury happened on set.

Struggles With Trust and Teamwork

The topic came up again later in the episode when Rose had trouble lifting a heavy bag over her head during a late-night obstacle course. The rest of the group — down to 14 contestants after Brandi Glanville was medically withdrawn following her own injury during the helicopter task — had to keep holding the bag until Rose finished.

"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," Rose admitted.

The show's Directing Staff pushed her to keep going, with one instructor shouting, "I watched you as a superhero — come on!"

"Eventually it's like, I'm not really that action star, am I?" Rose said to camera. "I'm just Ruby."

Unsafe Workplace Allegations and a Denial From Warner Bros.

After her time on Batwoman, Rose publicly accused the show's executives of creating an unsafe work environment. Warner Brothers denied those allegations at the time.

Katy Perry Allegations Surface on the Show

Rose also made headlines in April when she accused singer Katy Perry of sexual assault. In a series of social media posts, Rose alleged that Perry assaulted her at an Australian nightclub when Rose was in her 20s.

Perry denied the claims through a representative, telling Entertainment Weekly: "The allegations being circulated on social media by Ruby Rose about Katy Perry are not only categorically false, they are dangerous, reckless lies. Ms. Rose has a well-documented history of making serious public allegations on social media against various individuals, claims that have repeatedly been denied by those named."

The controversy was referenced on Thursday's premiere by fellow contestant Oliver Hudson, who brought up the allegations in a conversation with other cast members after Rose stepped away.

"She's got some s— going on in the news," Hudson said, adding, "[With] Katy Perry."

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test airs on Fox on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.