WATCH: Angela Lee details mental health struggles, pays tribute to sister Victoria in heartfelt video feature

Reigning ONE women’s atomweight MMA world champion Angela Lee has been dominating the division since her promotional debut in May 2015. She was unbeaten in 11 atomweight fights, which included nine finishes. Lee’s quest to become a two-division world champion was denied by ONE women’s strawweight MMA world champion Xiong Jing Nan in their first and third meetings against each other.

Despite all these successes in her professional career, the Singaporean-American athlete has been battling mental health struggles, as she bravely shared in a video she released on YouTube via ONE Championship’s channel.

"ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Champion Angela Lee addresses the tragic passing of her younger sister, Victoria Lee, and bravely reveals the details of her own suicide attempt in 2017, along with the steps she took to improve her well-being. In the wake of Victoria's passing, Angela has launched Fightstory, a non-profit organization dedicated to speaking the truth, inspiring hope, and building a community for those struggling with mental health."

The 27-year-old revealed that her car crash in 2017, which was initially reported as an accident, was actually a suicidal attempt to end her life due to the different factors that weighed too much on her mental health:

"Six years ago, I tried to end my life. My car crash in November 2017 was not an accident. It was a suicide attempt."

Although the ‘Unstoppable' claims that she has immensely improved her disposition and mental state since that incident, she admitted that it is still a hard journey for her:

"For the longest time, I blocked that reality out of my mind in order to 'protect myself.' I put up barriers as a defense mechanism, to try and protect my mind and my heart from what had actually happened. And even all these years later, after a lot of healing, it’s still difficult to think about, let alone talk about."

Aside from boldly opening up about her struggles, Lee also paid tribute to her younger sister, Victoria Lee, who passed away after taking her own life in December 2022. Because of this devastating incident, the Evolve MMA representative founded Fightstory, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people overcome their mental health struggles.

According to Angela, the organization was inspired by Victoria, who lived a remarkable life:

"Fightstory was inspired by Victoria and the remarkable life that she lived at just 18 years old. Fightstory is just as much hers as it is mine. It’s something we created together, to save lives and to try and make the world a better place. We want people to know that although you may feel lonely in your fight with mental health, you are not alone."

Lee will attend the upcoming ONE Fight Night 14: Stamp vs. Ham on Prime Video on September 29 at Singapore Indoor Stadium to make an important announcement and decision about her career moving forward.