Australian actress Ruby Rose has revealed she was accused of murder at age 15 after discovering a four-year-old boy dying at a family gathering.
The 40-year-old star recalled the traumatic childhood incident on Tuesday during an interview on the Off the Vine podcast hosted by Kaitlyn Bristowe, marking her first appearance on a podcast.
Rose explained that she was attending a social gathering with her mother and family friends at a residential property when she stepped outside with a friend to smoke her first cigarette. While outdoors, she noticed what she initially believed was a doll hanging off a slide in the backyard playground.
"My friend and I locked eyes and we started walking towards it. As we got close enough, we could tell this was a real human," Rose said during the interview. She added: "There was blood coming out of his ear, nose, mouth. It was very traumatic."
Rose immediately ran to the young child, picked him up, and carried him inside the house to seek urgent help from the adults present. Paramedics arrived shortly afterward and transported the boy to a local hospital, where doctors placed him on life support systems.
The former Orange Is the New Black star initially believed she had saved the child's life because he was still breathing when emergency responders took him away. However, the boy had suffered severe brain damage from oxygen deprivation and could not be saved.
"Unfortunately he was brain dead for so long that it just wasn't..." Rose said, trailing off as she described the outcome. She continued: "I got a call saying that he probably wouldn't be okay, that they were keeping him on a machine and it didn't look great. I just sent love to the family."
Police questioning and school harassment
The morning after the child died, police officers arrived at Rose's high school to question her regarding the circumstances of the fatal incident. The unexpected presence of law enforcement triggered intense hostility from fellow students, who began accusing her of causing the boy's death.
"People were like, 'baby killer!' I was breaking down," Rose said, describing the severe psychological toll of the false allegations and schoolyard bullying.
The suspicion surrounding Rose persisted until the victim's older brother, who had witnessed the tragic event in the backyard, was able to recount what had occurred. The older boy had initially suffered from dissociative amnesia, a psychological defense mechanism where a person temporarily blocks out memories of a traumatic ordeal.
After recovering his memories of the incident, the brother returned to law enforcement officials and confirmed that the four-year-old's death was a catastrophic accident involving no criminal wrongdoing by Rose.
Exoneration and funeral exclusion
"He went back to the police and thank goodness told them, because they didn't think it was me anyway, but that doesn't always happen," Rose said during the podcast recording.
Although police investigators formally cleared Rose of any involvement in the fatality, the public accusation left a lasting scar on her teenage years, as peers continued to treat her as a "weird kid" in the aftermath.
The strain also ruined her relationship with the victim's family, preventing her from paying her respects alongside others who attended the memorial service. "He remembered and I was cleared, but (the child's mother) still didn't want me at the funeral. So everyone went except me," Rose revealed.
Hollywood career and return to Australia
In the wide-ranging conversation, which covered several aspects of her life, Rose also reflected on her complicated relationship with her late father and her decision to step back from major Hollywood productions.
Rose made international headlines when she departed the superhero television series Batwoman after suffering a severe spinal injury on set during production. She had starred as title character Kate Kane in the CW network series from 2019 to 2020 before exiting the role.
Before her starring role in the Arrowverse superhero franchise, Rose achieved widespread recognition on Netflix's acclaimed prison drama series Orange Is the New Black, playing inmate Stella Carlin. The show, created by Jenji Kohan, debuted in 2013 and became one of Netflix's flagship original programs.
Her breakthrough role in Orange Is the New Black launched a high-profile feature film career. Rose subsequently appeared in major studio action releases, including John Wick: Chapter 2 alongside Keanu Reeves, and the sci-fi action thriller The Meg opposite Jason Statham. She also landed roles in blockbuster titles Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and XXX: Return of Xander Cage.
Following years in the international spotlight and her recovery from her onset spinal injury, Rose has chosen to embrace a quieter lifestyle away from Hollywood studio environments. She has returned to her home country of Australia, where she currently resides in a secluded cabin in rural Victoria.
