Frankie Bridge opened up about being hospitalised with depression on tonight’s episode of I’m A Celebrity.
The singer candidly spoke about her mental health in a chat with Matty Lee.
She said: “I’ve always had depression and anxiety and I just had a breakdown when I was about 21, I think I was. I’d been through a really bad break-up, that was really public and everyone was really horrible.
“I was with Wayne, I was able to function at work, but then I’d come home and I couldn’t function. Just cry all the time. I didn’t want to be alive anymore, basically.”
In the Telegraph she added: “I know it can be a bit shocking for other people to hear that I was hospitalised at 21. I think people often think that that kind of thing only happens to older people. So I don’t mind talking about it and Matty seemed genuinely interested.”
Frankie continued: “I lost loads of weight and stuff. Wayne called my doctor and was like, ‘I don’t know what to do with her anymore.’ So they came and saw me. And they decided that I should go into hospital. So I had one music video that we needed to shoot in Iceland [for The Saturdays]. My manager was like, ‘OK, let’s do this one last thing and then go.’
“None of the girls knew at this point. So I went over to Iceland, did that video and then I knew when I landed – there’s pap pictures of us in the airport – I knew I was going straight to hospital basically when I got back. Wayne drove me, dropped me off.”
Matty said: “It’s a massive eye-opener and you’ve got to have these conversations because without conversations you don’t learn, you never know what’s going on.”
Frankie continued to Matty: “You think I’d feel really, like I’d hate it, but actually it’s a really nice memory. It was the first time in years I felt really relaxed, I didn’t have to hide anything.
“Everyone was on medication, everyone was having therapy, everyone had some sort of an issue. I didn’t have to pretend to be happy all the time. Being in hospital was a breath of fresh air really, but it’s a young age to have a mental breakdown.”
Frankie said in the Telegraph: “It’s weird to think Matty’s only 23. And it just kind of makes me realise how young I was and how different people’s lives and certain times of their lives can be.”
Matty asked what the turnaround point was. Frankie said: “Because I was with Wayne, I still remember being in the shower, and thinking, I love him, we’d spoken about marriage and kids and stuff, we had a beautiful home, I had a career I’d always wanted, but I just knew I was fundamentally unhappy.
“And that was when I realised that something just really wasn’t right. It was almost being happy made me realise I was unhappy, which is probably really hard for people to understand.
“My main reason for wanting to get better was because I knew I wanted kids. I was like, I can’t be like this if I want to be a mum. I knew I needed to sort myself out. So that was my main reason for wanting to get better. I was really lucky that Wayne put me in there basically and could afford to send me. It was s*** but it was great at the same time.”
I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here continues nightly on ITV and ITV Hub.
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