Her breakthrough as Marina Thompson in Bridgerton was supposed to be the happiest time of her life, but as Ruby Barker’s acting career was taking off, she found her mental health starting to decline.
“During filming, I was deteriorating,” said the 26-year-old during an interview on Oxford University’s LOAF Podcast. “It was a really tormenting place for me to be because my character was very alienated, very ostracized, on her own under these horrible circumstances.”
Barker, whose character is rejected by Regency-era society due to her scandalous pregnancy, says her character’s isolated nature negatively impacted her. Soon after wrapping the Netflix show in 2019, she was hospitalized. “When I went into hospital a week after shooting ‘Bridgerton’ Season 1, it was really covered up and kept on the down-low because the show was going to be coming out,” said Barker.
Barker adds that she felt like had to promote the show despite her own personal distress. “It’s almost like I had this metaphorical invisible gun to my head to sell this show because this show is bubbly and fun,” she said on the podcast.
“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,” she explained. “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.”
Now Barker is calling out the studios behind the show for their lack of support. “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 me if I’m okay or if I would benefit from any sort of aftercare or support. Nobody,” Barker said.
Barker previously opened up about her mental health in a May 2022 Instagram post. She 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. I’ve been struggling since Bridgerton, this is the truth. Thank you all for supporting me, your love holds me up. #mentalhealthawareness.”
At the time she thanked her fans and family for their support and Netflix for “saving her.”
“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.”
Netflix and Shondaland have yet to release a comment.
The entire podcast can be viewed below.
