‘Bridgerton’ Star Ruby Barker Reveals Hospitalization: ‘I’ve Been Really Unwell’

Bridgerton star Ruby Barker is focusing on her mental health. The 25-year-old actress, who stars as Marina Thompson on the hit Netflix original Regency-era drama, revealed in a Thursday Instagram video that she was recently hospitalized for an undiagnosed mental health condition after realizing she had been “really unwell for a long time.”

Assuring her 231,000 followers that she is “better,” Barker said that she wanted “to be honest with everybody, I have been struggling.” The actress went on to reveal that she was “in the hospital at the minute” and was “gonna get discharged soon and hopefully get to continue with my life and I’m gonna take a little bit of a break from myself.” Barker explained that she was sharing the candid update “to encourage others” who may be struggling. The actress said, “take a break, stop being so hard on yourself.” She went on to open up about her mental health, explaining that she was “rage-filled, frustrated, angry” before seeking help for “all this intergenerational trauma bundled up inside me.”

“I was carrying the weight of the world on my back,” Barker continued. “And now, I’m at a point where I have a diagnosis, and I will talk to you about that at another time. But I have a diagnosis, and I am relinquishing myself and forgiving myself and drawing a line in the sand. I can’t carry on the way that I’ve been carrying on. I need to change. So, that’s what I’m trying to do.”

In the Thursday post, Barker thanked Netflix and Bridgerton executive producer Shonda Rhimes “for giving me an opportunity, for saving me.” The British actress, who previously had to drop out of a West End production of Running with Lions after contracting COVID-19, said she “cannot wait to fulfill all of my engagements and to have a good career and a good life. “Because I do not want my diagnosis to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I want to survive and I will survive, and I’m going to. And so are you. That’s the beauty of it, so are you. If you’re with me, you’re in good hands. Thank you.”

Barker is best known for her portrayal of Marina Thompson on Bridgerton. Marina, a distant cousin of the Featherington family, was sent to London to officially enter society. She has appeared in both the first and second seasons of the series. It is unclear if she is set to return for Season 3, which is set to begin production this summer and will draw from the fourth book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, in Julia Quinn’s series.