How did Ruth Codd lose her leg? How becoming an amputee changed her life

15 October 2025, 20:30 | Updated: 16 October 2025, 10:29

Star of The Midnight Club and The Fall of the House of Usher, Ruth Codd has opened up on losing her leg and why she made the decision to amputate.

Ruth Codd has become a successful actress in recent years starring in popular TV shows The Midnight Club and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Now, boosting her profile on hit show The Celebrity Traitors, the actress is busy raising awareness for amputees as she takes on one of her biggest career challenges.

Ruth, 29, decided to have her right leg amputated at 23 after she had battled years of chronic pain. She's said it's been a long journey but she now feels "liberated".

From how she lost her leg to her recovery, here's everything Ruth has said about her disability.

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How did Ruth Codd lose her leg?

When Ruth was 15, she hurt her leg "messing around" playing football and it become an injury she ended up battling with for eight years.

Talking to the Irish Examiner, she said: "It never healed correctly, so until I was 23, I was on and off crutches, getting loads of operations."

The How To Train Your Dragon star revealed those years of her life were spent revolving around healing her leg which took its toll both physically and mentally.

At 23, Ruth made the decision to have her leg amputated which she has described as "liberating".

The actress told Teen Vogue: "I was really worried that I was going to get left behind in life. But it wasn't my time. My life changed, and it didn't turn out the way I expected. But, in the end, it did kind of turn out better.

"I spent so many years trying to flog a dead horse, essentially, and having every operation under the sun. And I was so scared of this one thing happening. Then when it happened, I was like, 'Oh.'"

Ruth added it was a relief to not be in so much pain anymore, something she had "just gotten used to".

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A post shared by Ruth Codd (@ruthcodd)

Ruth has been positive and open about her disability and admitted that while it was difficult to adjust, she's been much happier since.

She has said the experience has taught her to be "grateful" and to not take life too personally.

Speaking about her recovery, Ruth said: "It's okay to be angry about it, as long as, after a while, you realise life isn't personal. Sometimes bad things happen. And it's okay to miss things, too.

"It does take time to accept. It does. But once I got my leg amputated, my life really kind of took a turn. It was the best thing I ever did."

Ruth went on to become a TikTok star which helped her land her first acting role in Netflix's The Midnight Club, despite never having acted before. Her character, Anya, was also an amputee and Ruth's own experience helped bring the character to life.

Co-creator and director Mike Flanagan was so impressed, he went on to cast her in his next show, The Fall of the House of Usher.

Since then, her career has gone from strength to strength and now's competing with the likes of Jonathan Ross, Cat Burns and Tom Daley in The Celebrity Traitors.

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