Batwoman Star Ruby Rose Details Stunt Injury That Could Have Left Her Paralyzed

Becoming Batwoman was no easy feat for Ruby Rose as her CW series is gearing up for release. Putting on a cape and cowl to become a masked vigilante in Gotham City proved to have its dangerous moments for the actress, such as a cowl which her body was allergic to. “When I took it off, I was in a horror film where people were like, ‘It’s gonna be okay, can you just stay back there?’” Rose recalled. However, that was just the beginning. A stunt on the set of Batwoman left Rose with a broken neck and nearly paralyzed her for life.

“I broke my neck basically, on the show, as well,” Rose said on The Tonight Show. “I did a stunt for a very extended amount of time, like seven hours, and we thought that I broke a rib or fractured a rib. That’s like 6 to 12 weeks of healing. So, then I had 6 to 12 weeks of chronic pain and just kept assuming that’s what it was.” Unfortunately, that was not what it was, and the actual injury was much more serious despite the actress continuing her work on another film.

“I kept seeing these doctors and they’re like, ‘It’s your neck. It’s your neck. It just kind of radiates into these nerve endings,’” Rose recalled. “So, 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. I sent it to my doctor who sort of transcribed the whole thing and basically he called and was like, ‘You could become paraplegic. This is your spine. Two of your discs have herniated and they’ve broken all the protective layers. You have this tiny amount that your spine is not severed and if you don’t get back, you could become paraplegic. Even just seeping wrong or moving my head in a strange direction. It was really, really terrifying.”

From there, Rose had no choice but to get proper treatment for her neck as a means to avoid it becoming something much worse. “I didn’t have an option,” she said. “I just did the surgery. I couldn’t feel my arms. I would pick things up and I would drop them and be like, ‘That’s strange.’”

Rose has since made a full recovery. Her Batwoman series is set to debut on the CW on October 6 at 8pm ET.