‘Bridgerton’ Star Ruby Barker SLAMS Netflix For ‘No Support’ Amid Mental Health Crisis

"Bridgerton" actress Ruby Barker recently posted photos of her physical and mental health transformation, revealing that she was toning up not only her body, but her mind, amid a mental health breakdown that she had when the show had first premiered.

In a new interview on Oxford University's LOAF Podcast, the 26-year-old actress claims that she had "no support" from Netflix during a time when her mental health was "deteriorating" and alleged that no one had reached out to her after she suffered two psychotic breaks following the success of the period drama, which has yet to air its third season.

Ruby Barker became a household name after her character, Miss Mariana Thompson, was cast as a regular in the show's first season. She was only a guest actress in season 2 as the Featherington cousin shifted to the sidelines and it seems that she might not make an appearance in the show's third season, which will focus on the budding relationship between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).

While discussing her mental health on Oxford University’s LOAF Podcast (via The Daily Beast), Ruby said that she got "no support" from Netflix during her first psychotic break in 2019, right after she wrapped production on the first season of "Bridgerton." She also claims that she had a second one in 2022 but "nobody" reached out to her at that time, either.

“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,” Barker said in a recent interview. “Nobody.”

She went on to say that Mariana's scandalous pregnancy during the show's first season impacted her mental health, as she began to feel isolated from the rest of the cast. “During filming, I was deteriorating,” she said. “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.”

“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,” she explained. “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.”

In a since-deleted Instagram post in May 2022, the "How to Stop a Recurring Dream" actress said that she was "really unwell for a long time" and confessed to her followers that she had been "struggling" since "Bridgerton" was first released on the streaming giant. At the time, she had thanked Netflix for "saving her" with her role in "Bridgerton."

At the time, Ruby had told her Instagram followers, “I am in hospital at the minute and I am going to be discharged soon and hopefully get to continue with my life,” adding, “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.”

Now, on the LOAF podcast, Ruby is saying that she did not actually get any support from Netflix throughout her mental health struggles. As she said in the interview, “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 want to come out and poo-poo on that because then I’ll never work again.”

Fortunately, the actress recently posted side-by-side photos of her physical and mental transformation that she said was the result of the “inner work” that she had put into “accepting” who she was.