Bridgerton’s Ruby Barker Shares She Had 2 Psychotic Breaks

Ruby Barker is reflecting on a challenging season of her life.

The Bridgerton actress shared that she has experienced two psychotic breaks during a candid conversation about her mental health.

“I was getting on well during the filming,” Barker said on the Oct. 28 episode of Oxford University’s The LOAF Podcast. “A lot of artists and stuff, they suffer from mental health. I think it did kind of help me get into that head space and that world.”

However, she felt she was “deteriorating” while playing Marina Thompson on season one of Netflix’s Regency-era romance.

“It was a really tormenting place for me to be,” the 26-year-old noted, “because my character was very alienated, very ostracized, on her own, under these horrible circumstances.”

Barker alleged that she didn’t have solid support on set, saying she was admitted into the hospital one week after filming the first season in 2019.

“That was really covered up and kept on the down low, because the show was going to be coming out,” she said. “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 emailed me to ask me if I’m OK or ask me if I would benefit from any sort of aftercare or support.”