Angela Lee (11-3), ONE Championship’s current atomweight titleholder, has revealed in an article by The Players Tribune that her 2017 car crash was not just an accident, but an attempt to take her own life.
Lee expressed that she had applied a large amount of pressure on herself for her upcoming title defense versus Mei Yamaguchi in November 2017, and more in particular, making weight for the contest. Ultimately, the spiral of negative thoughts led to Lee experiencing substantial mental health issues.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about the shame that would result if I wasn’t able to make the fight. As someone who had never missed any competition in her entire life, that terrified me. It became all-encompassing. And, ultimately, I got to a point where I would rather take myself out of the equation than deal with what might come.
“That’s where my head was at. It was all or nothing.”
Lee remembers November 6th as the day that everything unraveled. While dealing with a challenging weight cut for her upcoming bout, Lee stepped on the scale and realized that she still had 12-pounds left to cut in order to make weight.
“I was trying to stay in the fight, mentally,” Lee wrote. “Trying to stay strong, but I felt myself slipping. I was terrified and exhausted and at my limit, and all of these negative, dark thoughts started flooding in.”
“I broke. I didn’t care anymore,” Lee wrote. “I kept going back and forth with thoughts in my head. Talking myself in and out of possibilities. I wanted to escape. I told myself: I have to take myself out of this fight.
“And that’s when things got really bad.”
In an attempt to get out of her fight, Lee tried to break her own arm and even hit herself to try and cause a concussion. Following these failed attempts, Lee got in her car and decided she was going to drive over the edge of a cliff.
Lee’s car went over the cliff and flipped multiple times, but as fate would have it, she walked away with only minor injuries. The story since then was that Lee fell asleep at the wheel and this was purely an accident, but with this recent information surfacing that is now known to be a complete fabrication.
Through this experience, coupled with the tragic loss of her 18-year-old sister to suicide, Lee found the inspiration to start Fightsory, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a community for individuals struggling with mental health.
Fightstory is a mental health nonprofit organization inspired by the life of Victoria Lee.
Our mission is to inspire, heal, and unite the world through the stories, struggles, and triumphs of fighters from all walks of life. We believe that speaking the truth, advocating awareness, and building community can save lives.
Join us today in the fight for a better, kinder, and more loving world.