After losing against Holly Holm, Ronda Rousey revealed that she thought of committing suicide. The former MMA champ and rising Hollywood star shared got teary-eyed talking about the ordeal she went through after that hard loss and how her boyfriend helped her through it.
In her appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show, Rousey showed her vulnerable side to the world. The 28-year-old revealed that losing to Holm last year was a big blow, not just in her career, but also on her sense of self and identity. It was so overwhelming that she thought of killing herself
"I was like, down in the medical room [after the match] and I was down in the corner, and I was like, 'What am I anymore if I'm not this?' And I was literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself and that exact second I'm like, 'I'm nothing. What do I do anymore? And no one gives a s*** about me anymore without this," she shared.
However, her boyfriend Travis Browne saved her just by being with her. She shared that when she was having suicidal thoughts, she looked up and saw Browne standing there in the hospital room. With his presence, her mind cleared. "And I looked up at him, and I was like, 'I need to have his babies. I need to stay alive,'" she said. "Really that was it."
DeGeneres relayed what millions of fans thought of the revelation. The host and comedian told Rousey that her courage to share her ordeal is truly admirable. "There are a lot of people out there that have thoughts like that, and they are looking at you going 'Wow, if she can have thoughts like that?" DeGeneres said. "You just did a lot of good for a lot of people. Thank you for saying that," DeGeneres said.
Rousey's career is hardly over with this loss. She is expected to return to the ring around November this year to fight Holm again, a year after the devastating loss she described. This will be her first rematch against Holm. The rematch was originally slated at UFC 200, but Rousey now has a filming career to attend to. She's going to take on Patrick Swayze's role in the remake of "Road House," so she needed to take some time off the ring. The former champ, however, revealed that she just could not wait. "Of course I want to fight Holly, beat her and make everything right again," she told DeGeneres.
Rousey's admission, however, garnered an unsolicited advice from equally amazing UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. According to Lesnar, he is a great fan of Rousey but the admission of suicidal thoughts revealed that she still has not mastered the art of losing. "One thing that I learned and she should have learned a long time ago was that you have to learn how to lose before you can actually win," he said.
Even the one who caused her all the mental anguish reacted to this admission. Holm said she does not know how to react to news of Rousey's suicidal thoughts because she is a true-blue competitor. While she feels bad, she does not necessarily think she needs to apologize, especially since she thinks that would further demean Rousey. "I don't want to say I'm sorry because I think on a competitive level for me, if somebody was to say they're sorry after [beating me], it's like, 'No, I'm a competitor.' I'm not a charity case." Holms though think Rousey will be mentally stronger in the future.
