'Bridgerton' Star Ruby Barker Breaks Silence On 'My Abusive Relationship' Following Father's Funeral

Actress Ruby Barker is best known for her role as Miss Mariana Thompson in the popular Netflix period drama series "Bridgerton."

Although she is not expected to make an appearance in the show's third season, she had a major role in the first season of the series. Since it aired, Ruby has been vocal about her mental health struggles following the success of the show.

In early January 2024, Ruby decided to share more information about her mental health struggles, which included an abusive relationship that she says occurred following her father's funeral.

In an Instagram post dated January 6, 2024, and titled "My Abusive Relationship," Ruby began, "How did I find myself in hospital, overdosed on Xanax & liquor in November 2023, this is how."

"I met a man in the pub. I was just back from my Dad's funeral. I had a party at my house. He stayed behind to help me clean up. That's how it began," she explained. "Eventually this man was throwing things at me, threatening to punch me, jamming his fingers into my heart space whilst using his knees to pin me down. Spitting in my face. Standing over the bath I'd beg him for, for my grief and Mental Health whilst on the phone to my oldest friend and taking out his p---- to urinate, before laughing at my disgust, shock, and sadness, turning to go in the toilet."

He would withhold intimacy, shame me and be unfaithful. He put his hands around my throat multiple times," she alleged, adding, "So much so, that when he ran at me and did it, I didn't flinch anymore. Holding a pillow over my face and whispering 'Think of the first night we met' in my ear. I wonder if he found it funny when I was scared and playing along with his 'jokes'. It starts as a joke."

"This is how predators gear up to kill you one day. His family enables him and so do every single one of his so called 'friends'. If he has a cocaine problem and/or moves in any of these ways, get out," she wrote. "I know I joke a lot, but this was not funny and ultimately nearly killed me. I was so confused and ultimately all I wanted was my Dad back. But he wasn't coming back to hit me with some wisdom. I spent nights on the phone to the Samaritans and the Police would call me and come by my place to see if I was okay. I didn't want to press charges. Refuge helped me understand what the cycle of abuse was and what it looks like. He knows. I know."

"Now you know too. I've exploited his skills for my own gain, he exploited my kindness and generosity for sadism. And he calls me crazy," she concluded. In the caption, she added, "Trigger warning: BTS 2023. What happens behind closed doors? Nobody's daughter or son deserves this. My father died and my mum out of the picture, easy target, I guess." Comments on her post were disabled.

Late last year, the actress discussed her mental health on Oxford University's LOAF podcast, as previously reported by The Blast. At the time, Ruby Barker claimed that she received "no support" from Netflix during her first psychotic break in 2019, right after she wrapped production on the first season of "Bridgerton." She claimed she suffered another mental health crisis in 2022, but alleged that "no one" reached out to her then 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,” she claimed. “Nobody.”

“During filming, I was deteriorating,” she continued. “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.”