Frankie Bridge says she can relate to Britney Spears when it comes to dealing with fame at such a young age.
The mum-of-two was in the public eye at the tender age of 12 as part of pop group S Club Juniors and has previously spoken about suffering from a mental breakdown as a young adult.
Sitting on the Loose Women panel on Tuesday, Frankie, 32, discussed the new documentary Framing Britney Spears, which explores the US singer's career and decades-long conservatorship.
Fellow panellist Ruth Langsford turned the conversation to Frankie's childhood experience and asked how old she was.
"I was 12 when I was in S Club Juniors," Frankie explained. "Our level of success was nothing like Britney so I'm not trying to compare myself to her.
"But it's really hard to be successful when you're so young and then try and continue that when you're older , I think that's where the problems come from."
She continued: "As a child you do take on worries for a lot of people. I felt like I had to be successful for my parents and for my friends, and it's not until I became a parent myself that I really felt for them.
"I didn’t have pushy parents but essentially I still ended up having a mental breakdown when I was 21-years-old and I do think, 'would that have happened had I not had fame so young?'.
"I can see why that happens to so many people because it's hard to keep that high.
"But for me, I was allowed to be a child, and I think with Britney there was a bit of a mixture of her to be sexy but still seem innocent."
Frankie has previously opened up about her mental breakdown, and detailed her lifelong battle with anxiety and depression in her memoir.
Her early 20s was a time when she required medical help on various occasions and six months before being admitted to a psychiatric unit, Frankie had seen "two therapists and tried three different anti-depressants — Prozac, venlafaxine and sertraline".
Frankie admitted that she was having "uncontrollable panic attacks and paralysing negative thoughts about anything and everything".
In 2020, Frankie confirmed that she still goes to therapy and takes medication as it stops her "from having another mental breakdown and ending up back in hospital".
She added: "This is what it is like living with a mental illness. It can hit anyone at any time, regardless of who they are, what they have, or whether they are strong or weak characters."
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30 on ITV.
