The Saturdays’ Frankie Bridge Has Opened Up About Being Hospitalised After A Breakdown

The Saturdays singer Frankie Bridge has opened up about suffering a breakdown during the height of the band’s fame.

Frankie says she’s battled with “anxiety, nervousness, stress and sadness” for as long as she can remember, but “lived with it in silence” until it came to a head in 2011.

In an excerpt from her new book Open: Why Asking For Help Can Save Your Life, she details hitting “rock bottom” while shooting a music video for The Saturdays in Iceland.

I had uncontrollable panic attacks and paralysing negative thoughts about anything and everything. I had trouble sleeping, lacked energy and had lost my appetite and my libido. I couldn’t do anything without help and was unable to function in everyday life. Fundamentally, I couldn’t see the point of living any more.

With the help of her now-husband Wayne Bridge, she checked into a hospital for treatment, but was unable at first to tell her family about how she was feeling.

“The shame of having to admit to my parents and sister Victoria that my beautiful life wasn’t enough for me, that I’d failed to function as a normal human being,” she writes. “I knew they would blame themselves and question their decision to let me go into the music industry when I was a child.”

Frankie stayed in hospital for a month, where she rediscovered her passions for music and art and learned that she was not alone in what she was going through.

Her doctor has since told her that her depression is ‘treatment-resistant’, meaning that any medication she is on becomes less effective over time – however, she continues to take her meds and go to therapy, as she knows it will “keep her afloat”.

“It took me reaching my breaking point to begin to get to grips with my illness,” writes the mother of two. “That has been a hugely empowering journey, and my biggest breakthrough has been realising I will get through it.

“No matter how low I feel, I know I won’t ever be as low as I was when I went into hospital because I managed to speak out and ask for help.”

• frankie bridge
• mental health
• The Saturdays