Batwoman Star Ruby Rose Goes Public with Mental Health Struggles for World Mental Health Day

JB Augustine |

Oct 14, 2019

Star of The CW’s Batwoman Ruby Rose opened up about her history of mental health disorders on World Mental Health Day. She disclosed in a social media post she’s been diagnosed and misdiagnosed with various conditions since the age of 13.

Rose shared a photo on Instagram of herself in the hospital right before she was cast in Orange Is the New Black, writing the following in the caption:

“I’ve struggled with mental health my entire life. 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.”

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Dissociative amnesia creates gaps in the memory of sufferers brought on by stress and trauma. Rose suffered a childhood trauma doctors and her mother thought she was too young to process.

Starting to ask questions, she “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.”

She illustrated her amnesia with a personal tale of a former best friend she could not remember but her friend had a lot of stories to share.

Rose went on to say she was misdiagnosed as bipolar. An overactive thyroid contributed to that misdiagnosis and frequent changes in medication, she wrote:

“I was also diagnosed with Bipolar for a long time until it turned out I just had depression.. the pure sad depression without the fun and not so fun parts of mania, it was an overactive thyroid that created that misdiagnosis. Cut to many dark times. On medication, off medication, on and off and on and off per each wrong diagnoses.”

Rose also revealed she attempted suicide at the tender age of 12 and that she was ultimately diagnosed with complex PTSD or C-PTSD – a condition that results from multiple or prolonged traumas.

She wrapped up her post talking about what her experiences taught her about strength and judging others:

“What I have learned from the struggles of mental health is just how strong I am,” Rose continued. “It’s how amazing people are because they love me and support me and yet you can’t judge those who don’t understand and don’t know how to do that either. It’s that you cannot judge people at all because you can never know what they have been through.

It’s that self love [sic] and self care [sic] is more important than anything else.”

Fellow performers and celebrities from Milla Jovovich to Supergirl cast member Nicole Maines commented on the post with their support.

Jovovich wrote “You’re such a wonderful, strong human. Thank you for sharing.” followed by clapping and heart emojis.

Maines replied, “Thank you for sharing. We’re all happy you’re with us!” punctuated by three green heart emojis.

Ruby Rose pushed through her ordeals and injuries to become a star of movies and TV. Landing the role of Kate Kane, she first donned the cape in the Arrowverse crossover Elseworlds before Batwoman went to series. It airs Sundays on The CW.