“Don’t let the fear or the stigma keep you from sharing” - Angela Lee tells students to be unafraid to talk about mental health

Former ONE women’s atomweight MMA world champion Angela Lee continues to live up to her new mission of spreading mental health awareness and its importance not only to professional athletes but also to the general public.

Lee recently went to ‘Aiea High School in Hawaii and openly talked about mental health to hundreds of students across 20 schools. In a lengthy post on Instagram, the 27-year-old shared several snaps of the event.

The ‘Unstoppable’ captioned her post with:

“Yesterday was my first time speaking since my retirement last September. I went to Aiea High School thinking I was going to be speaking to one school and one team... When I arrived, I was shocked to see over 20 schools from all over the state! I was intimidated and nervous but knew this message I was about to deliver was important. I wrote my speech prior to coming but when I was on that stage looking at all the kids, I knew I had to speak from the heart.“

Lee added:

“So please, if you are in a dark place. If you are having dark thoughts and feel like giving up, speak up. Talk to someone. Don't let the fear or the stigma keep you from sharing how you feel."

And if someone shares how they are feeling with you, if they are having dark thoughts, please take them seriously"

Lee officially retired from professional fighting after the tragic and untimely death of her younger sister, Victoria, who tragically passed away in December 2022. This was also the same reason why Angela took the initiative to put up the non-profit organization FightStory, to give pro athletes the community to safely talk about their mental health problems and resolve them.

The Evolve MMA and United MMA-affiliated athlete officially publicized her retirement in September 2023 at ONE Fight Night 14 during a special appearance during the event. It was a very emotional announcement for Lee, but fans and the combat sports community fully supported her decision to hang the gloves.

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Angela Lee confident that ONE atomweight division is in good hands after her retirement from the sport

During the same evening of her retirement, the new ONE atomweight MMA queen was also crowned after Stamp Fairtex defeated Ham Seo Hee in the main event of the card via a third-round TKO. The Thai superstar made history by becoming the first athlete to become a three-sport world champion after previously winning the ONE atomweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world titles.

This victory by the Thai sensation has convinced Lee that the division is in good hands because they have a great world champion and a number of challengers—Denice Zamboanga, Alyona Rassohyna, Tiffany Teo, and Jihin Radzuan—that could make Stamp a busy world champion.