Melbourne boxer Chloe Chaos has revealed how fighting has helped her heal from the childhood trauma of learning her best friend had been shot dead by her father in a murder-suicide.
Chaos's world was turned upside down in 2010 when, at just 12 years of age, she learned that her friend Asia Osborne and her siblings were murdered by her father in Roxburgh Park, Melbourne.
'I just remember thinking, if someone that close to you and who loves you can do something like that, what can other people do?' Chaos told the Herald Sun.
'She was shot by her dad, who I thought was really nice, and he also killed her brother and sister.
'I remember it all. It was the day before we went back to school for Year seven, and we got a phone call at home.
Aussie boxer Chloe Chaos has spoken about her childhood trauma and how finding boxing has given her direction and structure
Chaos, 26, has put together a series of victories as a professional - including winning a Victorian title
'We went straight up the road, me and my friends, there were news cameras and police everywhere. It looked like a movie scene. We just sat across the road watching, and the news was just telling the country this story about my friend.
'She came from New Zealand when she was in grade two, and we were inseparable since then. And then, she was gone.'
Chaos struggled after the death of her friend and says she was shut down by teachers at her school when she tried to talk about the incident.
She left school in Year nine and soon found herself falling into the party lifestyle and taking drugs.
Chaos was soon also caring for her dad, who had suffered a work accident.
'I began smoking weed,' she said.
'I did ice, but then I'd go home and I'd study, and I'd see my friends the next weekend and they'd be doing the same thing, doing it again. And I knew that you can dabble in something a little too much and then you lose control of it quickly, so I stopped.
'Marijuana was really my big addiction.
The Victorian fighter had an addiction to marijuana while growing up that was impacting on her mental health
At age 17 she found boxing and after deciding to take the sport seriously she also made the move to change her name
'But I was functional, so I didn't see it as a problem. I could smoke, go to work, hide it. But deep down, I was a mess.
'As I watched my Dad deteriorate, that's when my mental health really came into play.'
At age 17, Chaos walked into a boxing gym in Melbourne and soon found the structure and purpose she needed.
In 2022, she turned pro and has put together a string of victories on the way to picking up the Victorian middleweight strap.
Chaos's decision to take boxing seriously also coincided with her deciding to change her name and move out of home.
'I haven't spoken to my dad in years, I didn't want to live under my last name, I didn't want any connection with my dad anymore,' she said.
'It was part of the rehabilitation for me.
'As a Tarzcon growing up, I was a lost person.
'I am Chaos. I have tattoos on my face. Not that I am crazy, everything is just chaotic and I have a lot of energy, so I chose Chaos as my surname, and now everyone in boxing knows me as Chloe Chaos.
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