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Ronda Rousey

She is an advocate for mental health after losing her dad to suicide

ronda roussey
Ainhoa Barcelona
Content Managing Editor
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American pro wrestler Ronda Rousey, also known as 'Rowdy', may be known for her triumphs in the ring, but she has long supported causes that are very close to her heart.

She sadly lost her father to suicide when she was just eight years old, which led to Ronda supporting mental health charities in her later life. One of these is the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services organisation, which provides free mental health, substance use disorder and suicide prevention services.

As she helped open the charity's new centre in California in 2019, Ronda said: "I was eight years old when I lost my dad to suicide. It had a huge effect on my life. Everything in my life has been affected by it ever since.

"I think there's some survivor's guilt in a way for a lot of people that lose someone and then go on to have a great life. It's a very complicated and layered issue that people don't address and I'm just really happy this prevention centre exists."

On her official Ronda Rousey website, profits from her T-shirts are also donated to Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services.

As well as mental health, Ronda is a big supporter of ending food poverty.

Before each of her UFC bouts, she would promote the Freerice initiative – a United Nations World Food Programme initiative that donates rice to families in need by allowing members of the public to play a multiple-choice quiz game. For every correct response answered, ten grains of rice are donated to a family.

See the full Kind List here

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