UFC superstar Ronda Rousey. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

SHE MIGHT BE the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s most dominant athlete today but things weren’t always so good for Ronda Rousey.

The UFC women’s bantamweight world champion, who won a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, has just released an autobiography, My Fight/Your Fight, in which she details a difficult period in her life.

After returning from the Olympics, Rousey developed a habit for alcohol, marijuana and painkillers, according to the New York Post‘s summary of the book, which was co-written by Rousey’s sports journalist sister Maria Burns Ortiz:

“Her $10,000 prize money ran out quickly, and she got a job bartending at a theme place in Los Angeles. Rousey began smoking and drinking heavily, often beginning her day with a cigarette and a vodka espresso. She developed a pot-and-vicodin habit. She’d sleep in her car, and when she did find an apartment, all she could afford was a 12-by-12-foot studio.”

Rousey eventually got her life back on track and used her judo skills to progress through the mixed martial arts ranks, ascending from amateur debutant in 2010 to UFC champion in 2012.

The 28-year-old Californian, who is now arguably the biggest star in MMA, has also dabbled in a bit of acting, featuring in The Expendables 3, Furious 7 and the forthcoming Entourage movie.

In the book, Rousey book also discusses her father’s suicide: “None of us were the same after that.”

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