‘Bridgerton’ Star Ruby Barker Tells Fans She Is ‘In Hospital With Mental Struggles’ After Becoming Unwell Filming Netflix Drama

Caroline Frost
·2 min read
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Bridgerton star Ruby Barker has posted a revealing video message to fans on social media, explaining that she is currently in hospital dealing with “mental struggles”.

Fans have rushed to support Barker on social media after the actress, who plays Marina Thompson on the hit Netflix period drama, captioned the post: “Mental health week is every week for me. Off my chest. I feel like I’ve not been completely honest so this is for my followers. Time to be transparent.

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“I’ve been struggling since Bridgerton, this is the truth. Thank you all for supporting me, your love holds me up. #mentalhealthawareness.”

In the video, Barker told fans:

“I am better, I have been really unwell for a really long time. I want to be honest with everyone. I have been struggling.

“I am in hospital at the minute and I am going to be discharged soon and hopefully get to continue with my life.

“I am going to take a little bit of a break for myself and I would encourage others, if you are struggling, do yourself a favour and take a break, stop being so hard on yourself.”

She continued: “I was raged-filled, angry, all this intergenerational trauma bundled up inside me.

“I was carrying the weight of the world on my back and now I am at the point where I have a diagnosis, I am drawing a line in the sand.

“I can’t carry on the way that I was, I need to change so that is what I am trying to do. I want to survive and I will survive, I am going to.”

Barker also thanked her family and friends, and credited Netflix for giving her an opportunity and “saving her.”

Barker had previously explained how her key role in Bridgerton meant an awful lot to her.

On a PrettyLittleThing: Behind Closed Doors podcast, she said: “It literally means everything you know I never thought I’d be in a period drama, in a role like Marina.

“I’d seen Belle the film about Dido Elizabeth Belle who was a mixed race aristocrat in the Georgian period of time and I saw that film and was like ‘wow it would be so amazing to play that character but it’s already been made, I’m probably not going to be in a period drama simply because of my race.”

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