Ruby Barker
(Picture: Instagram )Bridgerton actress Ruby Barker has revealed she has been hospitalised due to her ongoing mental health struggles.
The Islington-born star, who plays Marina Thompson on the hit Netflix drama, admitted she has “been struggling since Bridgerton” as she opened up about her battle with the illness.
In a video posted on Instagram, the 25-year-old said: “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 added: “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.”
Ruby thanked her friends and family as well as streaming giant Netflix for giving her an opportunity and “saving her”.
She has previously spoken out against “prejudice” in the industry and called for greater mixed-raced representation on screen.
In February, she told the Standard: “We are not used to seeing mixed-race girls not just play the best friend, completely flawless, smiling away like a dopey idiot with backlit hair. That is how [they] have been presented on screen, on stage for a bloody millennia.
“Suddenly we have this character Marina who has serious agency. I didn’t play her to be liked. I played the truth. It pissed a lot of viewers off because she did break boundaries and people’s perceptions — a lot of people couldn’t handle it. They need to look in the mirror and ask what about that makes them so angry?
“Some people on Reddit are only comfortable seeing mixed-race women play a certain role and they are scared. But it’s what I’m here for and I’m not going to stop.”
