BRIDGERTON’S Ruby Barker has slammed Netflix for failing to support her after she suffered two “psychotic breaks.”
The actress, 26, who played Marina Thompson in the first series of the period drama, has opened up about her struggles after the show.
Speaking candidly on the LOAF Podcast on Saturday, Barker shared that her first Psychotic break occurred in 2019 after she wrapped filming on Bridgerton season one and another in 2022.
She claimed that she had received “no support” from Netflix amid her struggles and no aftercare or mental health service was being offered.
Barker said: “When I went into hospital a week after shooting Bridgerton season one it was really covered up and kept on the down-low because the show was going to be coming out.
“During filming I was deteriorating.
“It was a really tormenting place for me to be because my character was very alienated, very ostracised, on her own under these horrible circumstances.
“Not a single person from Netflix, not a single person from Shondaland since I have had two psychotic breaks from that show have even contacted me or even emailed me to ask if I’m ok or if I would benefit from any sort of aftercare or support. Nobody.”
Barker explained that she felt immense pressure to appear “bubbly” in line with the feel of the show once production was done but was struggling internally.
She continued: “In the run up to the show coming out I was just coming out from hospital, my Instagram following was going up, I had all these engagements to do.
“My life was changing drastically overnight and yet there was still no support and there still hasn’t been any support all that time. So I was trying really really hard to act like it was ok and that I could work and that it wasn’t a problem.
‘It’s almost like I had this metaphorical invisible gun to my head to sell this show because this show is bubbly and fun. I don’t wanna come out and pooh-pooh on that because then I might never work again!”
Barker previously disclosed that she had mental health struggles in a May 2022 Instagram video post where she said that she was “really unwell for a really long time” and had been “struggling since ‘Bridgerton.’”
At the time, she thanked her friends and family for their support as well as Netflix for “saving her” by casting her in “Bridgerton”.
“I am in hospital at the minute and I am going to be discharged soon and hopefully get to continue with my life,” Barker told her followers.
“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.”
