‘Batwoman’ Star Ruby Rose Explained Why She Shared Her Neck Surgery On Instagram

It can be easy to forget that celebrities that do their own stunts take huge risks to ensure that death-defying scenes look real, as are stunt performers. And yet, they make it look so effortless. So, one actor took to extreme measures to show just how much effort actually goes into stunt work. Batwoman actor Ruby Rose shared her neck surgery video to prove how tough stunts can be in real life. As the star revealed during a recent interview on Buzzfeed's AM to DM, she shared the procedure to prove that stars are humans too, and that they're not always as flawless and polished — or capable — as they appear on screen.

On Friday, Sept. 27, Rose revealed that she'd suffered a major injury while filming stunts for her upcoming CW series, Batwoman. In order to prevent paralyses, she underwent emergency neck surgery, which she filmed. Along with her announcement, Rose shared in a three-minute NSFW video of her surgery on Instagram. "A couple of months ago I was told I needed an emergency surgery or I was risking becoming paralyzed," she wrote in the caption. "I had herniated two discs doing stunts, and they were close to severing my spinal chord." The video had over 1.2 million views at time of publication.

A few days after sharing her health scare with the world, Rose appeared on AM to DM to talk about her new show, and explained why she felt it was important to speak out about her injury. "I wanted to talk about it because Hollywood — and the world at large, I guess — we always try to make out like everything is effortless and everything is about kind of being perfect and being a certain way," Rose explained Sept. 30's episode of AM to DM. "I think in Hollywood it's sort of like, you're meant to be young and beautiful and strong and good at all these different things. And it's kind of like — we're also human beings. And I wanted to embrace the fact that, yeah, no, I have a Pez Dispenser scar."

Rose also described what was going through her mind before the procedure itself, telling BuzzFeed that "it was very terrifying ... I knew that if I didn't get the surgery, there was a really high chance of [becoming paralyzed]. So, it was kind of like I didn't have a choice."

The star explained that, even though the injury and resulting surgery happened several months back, she kept it all under wraps until now because she didn't want to "distract from the show," and "didn't want to have people worried about me." If you're still worried about Rose's recovery, though, don't be — while her neck isn't quite back to 100 percent yet, she can at least move it around a good bit, as she demonstrated for BuzzFeed.

Batwoman premieres on the CW on Sunday, Oct. 6, so fans will soon be able to watch the fruits of Rose's labor in action. While it's unclear which stunt, exactly, landed her in the hospital, the show's trailer definitely puts her hard work and athletic abilities on display. She sure does pull a mean punch — on more than a few occasions.

It's exciting to see a badass female superhero like Rose's Batwoman grace the screen, and one who's involved in a same-sex romance at that. It's a role of a lifetime, no doubt about that — and thanks to Rose's surgery, she and her iconic character will have a whole lot more life to live, and a whole lot more crime to right.