Angela Lee admits mental health talk still an ‘emotionally draining’ subject

Former ONE atomweight world champion Angela Lee may have provided a big relief from her life after announcing her retirement from professional MMA at ONE Fight Night 14 on Friday, September 29, inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

But there is still one particular topic that has been taxing her when talked about, and that is mental health. Lee bravely opened up about her mental struggles, which date back to 2017, but the subject is still emotionally draining to her.

The ‘Unstoppable’ revealed in an interview with The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani that she went through a tough stretch in the height of her retirement because she needed to do multiple interviews talking about it specifically.

The 27-year-old said:

“Yes, it is emotionally draining talking about this time because it is different. It's not the typical interview that would do for a fight. There's so many more emotions involved and while I was in Singapore and I did two or three back-to-back interviews, speaking about it, it was very very hard just bringing all these feelings up and trying to keep it under control.”

The 27-year-old’s last straw for her decision to leave the professional ranks and end her career prematurely was the tragic death of her younger sister, Victoria, in December 2022.

Victoria’s untimely death at the tender age of only 18 took a massive toll on Angela, and she lost her spirit to fight again in a professional setting. However, the incident also served as an inspiration for the former ONE atomweight queen to start the non-profit organization Fightstory.

Fightstory aims to create a community for professional athletes to deal with their mental health struggles and help them overcome them. Through this, Angela hopes to continue a far bigger fight on a global scale while doing what she does best – inspire others through her actions.

You can watch the ONE Fight Night 14 replay on demand via Amazon Prime Video in North America.