Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey apologizes for 2013 Sandy Hook conspiracy video: “I have regretted it every day of my life”

More than 11 years after releasing a conspiracy video questioning the facts behind the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, former UFC champion Ronda Rousey is apologizing.

In a lengthy social media post, Rousey said she made “the most regrettable decision of my life” when she shared a YouTube video on social media that promoted a conspiracy theory about the December 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff members were killed. According to Bleacher Report, she captioned the post: “Extremely interesting and a must-see.”

The post quickly sparked outrage and Rousey deleted it soon after.

“I didn't even believe it, but was so horrified by the truth that I looked for an alternative fiction to cling to instead,” Rousey wrote in her apology. “I quickly realized my mistake and took it down, but the damage was done.”

The former MMA fighter said that “miraculously” the post went unnoticed by the media and she was never asked about it. “So I never spoke about it again for fear that drawing attention to it might have the opposite of the intended effect – it might increase the views of these conspiracy videos and make even more people selfishly aware that I was ignorant, self-centered and insensitive enough to share it in the first place.”

The 37-year-old said she had wanted to apologize in the years since the controversial video was released – and had even written the apology several times – but she was “convinced that it was not the right time or that I would cause more harm.”

She said she had written a draft apology for her latest memoir, but her publisher asked her to take it out because it would overshadow everything else and “do more harm than good.”

“But honestly, I deserve to be hated, labeled, loathed, despised and worse. I deserve to miss every opportunity, I should have been cancelled, I deserved it. I still do,” Rousey continued.

A recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on social media site Reddit finally convinced her it was time for an apology. The AMA was inundated with questions about her original post. In her apology, Rousey acknowledged that her remarks were long overdue.

“I apologize for this coming 11 years late, but to those affected by the Sandy Hook massacre: From the bottom of my heart and soul, I am so sorry for the pain I caused,” she wrote. “I cannot even begin to imagine the pain you endured, and words cannot describe how deeply I regret and am ashamed of myself for contributing to it.”

“I have regretted it every day of my life since then and will do so until the day I die,” she continued.

Rousey concluded her apology by reminding anyone who has fallen “into the black hole of bullshit” and conspiracy theories that it does not make them “nervous or an independent thinker.”

“They will only make you feel powerless, afraid, miserable and isolated. All you will do is hurt others and yourself,” she warned. “No matter how long you have been on the wrong path, you should still turn back.”