Ruby Barker, who plays Bridgerton, has said that she is now in hospital suffering with “mental problems” in a video message to followers on social media. Fans have flocked to social media to show their support for Barker, who plays Marina Thompson in the hit Netflix period drama.
She captionedthe 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.“I’ve been struggling since Bridgerton, this is the truth. Thank you all for supporting me, your love holds me up. #mentalhealthawareness”
With the video post, 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.”
Barker continued by saying, “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 expressed gratitude to her family and friends, as well as Netflix, for giving her a chance and “saving her.” Barker had previously stated how important her role in Bridgerton was to her. She remarked on the PrettyLittleThing, Behind Closed Doors podcast, “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.”