Ruth Codd Reveals Life-Changing Accident: Second Leg Amputation After BBC Breakthrough

She was one of the lesser known stars of this year’s Celebrity Traitors and sadly Ruth Codd’s time on the show didn’t last long after she was murdered by the Traitors after voicing her suspicions about Jonathan Ross. 

But prior to her rise to fame, the actress, 29, has overcome severe hardship after a tragic accident at 15 changed her life forever. 

Ruth fell while playing football at school, and after eight years of complications and walking on crutches she chose to get her right leg amputated when she was 23. 

She previously revealed: ‘I was just messing around in school and fell over playing soccer, which is the worst part because I don’t even like soccer. At least I could have gone out in blaze of glory doing something that I loved but – no!’

And on Wednesday Ruth also announced that she’s had her second leg amputated below the knee after the joints in her feet were ‘destroyed’ in her other foot after years of walking on crutches.

The Midnight Club star admitted she’d been told by doctors her foot was ‘never going to get any better’ and it has made it ‘more difficult’ for her to work and perform.

Ruth rose to fame by chance after she gained a following on TikTok during Covid as she began making content on life as an amputee, injecting her sharp sense of humour to her videos.

In less than a year she had accumulating over 670,000 followers and millions of likes and caught the eyes of casting director and kickstarting her career in showbiz.

But where did it all begin for the actress and what did she have to overcome to hit the big time?

Ruth was born in the coastal town of Wexford in Ireland on a housing estate with her parents and younger brother Luke. 

Growing up she enjoyed horse riding, but this all changed when she was 15 and injured her leg while playing football. 

After spending the majority of the next eight years on crutches, Ruth then made the call to have her leg amputated for a better quality of life. 

She previously wrote in the Irish Examiner in 2022: ‘My whole life revolved around trying to heal my leg. For years, I didn’t see it getting any better. I was stuck in a really bad mindset and I was p****d off at life. When I made the decision to amputate it, things finally started to turn around. It was a relief. I could get on my life.’

She added: ‘If you’d have asked me a couple of years ago what scares me the most, it would have been getting left behind. 

‘When I was injured, I really felt like life was passing me by. I was scared of everyone moving on with their lives and forgetting about me but that didn’t happen.’

Yet Ruth’s health woes were far from over, and this week she revealed she has now had her second leg amputated.

The star revealed her reasons for the new surgery in an interview two weeks ago, admitting it was to benefit her ‘quality of life’ after already having all her toes removed in 2021 due to the impact of using crutches for eight years.

She said: ‘It’s just that this foot, I was on crutches for the bones of eight years and the way I used my crutches I was always kind of on my tippy toes, so the joints in my feet were destroyed by the end of the eight years. 

‘And it’s just kind of the same thing, it’s gone past the point where they can kind of do anything about it.

‘I’ve already had to have all my toes amputated. So I’ve no toes, so my foot looks like a little hamburger.’

Speaking on Under The Skin with Grace Neutral, she added: ‘With the second one, it’s just the same situation, it was just my quality of life, it’s never going to get any better from this point, they can only kind of stop it from getting worse, and the amount of health problems and stuff I’ve had in the last year. 

‘I haven’t let it stop me from doing anything. but I feel like it has hindered me and made my ability to do my job more difficult. And I’ve been through it once before, so I think with two prosthetics I’ll be pretty unstoppable.’

Discussing the recovery process she continued: ‘It’s like after you get your leg amputated, you spend about three or four days in hospital. 

‘I did the last time, just until they can get the pain under control. I had a nerve blocker the last time and it didn’t work, so when I woke up I was in loads of pain, but then they got it under control really quickly. So I was able to go home in three or four days.

‘They give you a month or a month and a half for the residual limb to heal[not being able to wear a prosthetic or do anything] that’s the hardest part of that, that’s what I found the last time, because you’re just kind of in bed, or yeah, you can’t do anything really. 

‘When I got home from hospital, everyone thinks it’d be really sore actually, wasn’t really for me. I know it’s not the same for everyone. For me, my surgeon must have just done quite a good job.’

Ruth took to her TikTok on Wednesday to let her fans know she’d had the same operation on her left leg six years later, using her typical hilarious humour to deliver the update.

Filming herself from her parent’s house, she addressed her followers: ‘Hi guys. So, I have some good news and some bad news.

‘Good news – we’ve had a full circle moment. I’m back making TikTok content in my parents’ house. Bad news – I can’t do it in front of that lovely blue floral wallpaper any more, due to the fact that that room is upstairs.

‘I’ve just had my second below-knee amputation. So, unfortunately, those facilities are not available to me at the current moment in time. So a lot to unpack there for everyone involved.’

Ruth has admitted her greatest strength is her sense of humour and she uses it to hide her emotions. 

Prior to acting the star was training to be a barber when the pandemic hit and she gained a following on TikTok, making videos on being an amputee as well as beauty hacks and comedic skits. 

It was then that she was noticed by casting directors for Netflix’s Midnight Club to play the part of Anya, a lower leg amputee. 

Despite having no professional acting experience, Ruth was invited to audition for the role and was propelled from the world of her bedroom filming for social media to a major Netflix set. 

After starring in The Midnight Club she went on to work with Mike Flanagan once again on The Fall Of The House Of Usher.  

Ruth also starred in the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon as she entered the world of film with her role as Phlegma.