Frankie Bridge has emotionally opened up about her eating disorder and depression battle, revealing exactly how The Saturdays star Mollie King helped her get through it.
Over the years the 37 year old has been very open about her struggles, and how it has impacted her life.
But in a new interview, Frankie spoke about the eating disorder and depression battle she faced during The Saturdays. And how it was bandmate Mollie King who helped her through.
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Frankie Bridge opens up on eating disorder
Speaking on the latest episode of Daily Mail’s The Life Of Bryony podcast, an emotional Frankie revealed she felt her eating disorder was “the only way to take control”.
She explained: “I think some of it was to do with how I looked. But it was mostly a control thing. I obviously felt the pressure to look a certain way, being in a girl band, but that came from me.
“It mainly came from, this is the only way I can take any control of my day-to-day life. Because my anxiety was so bad, I wasn’t hungry either.”
Frankie admitted that she “wasn’t aware” she wasn’t eating enough food until she went to therapy and be “shaking” which prompted her therapist to encourage her to eat something.
How Mollie King helped her
However, it wasn’t just an eating disorder that Frankie was battling, she was also struggling with her depression battle at the time, which began at 17 years old.
Frankie admitted that her life was becoming not her “own” and she “never stopped working” but that she has “nothing bad to say” about her time in the band.
However, the lack of control contributed to her mental health crisis. And eventually things came to a head when her Saturdays band-mate Mollie, walked in on her crying in the hotel room.
She recalled: “I think I felt a loss of control around my life, and what was expected of me. I was going through a break-up quite publicly, and I think it all just came to a head. Probably burnout, I had my eating disorder at the time.
“There was one show we did, I think in Ireland. The minute we got to the hotel, I went in, shut the lights off, closed the curtains and got into bed.
“I think it was Mollie who came into my room. She had never seen me like that but I couldn’t stop crying. I told her ‘I can’t do the show!’. I managed to do it – but with her basically holding me up.”
Frankie Bridge has never shied away from talking about her mental health and depression.
While in The Saturdays, the singer admitted she reached breaking point and struggled. As a result, she checked herself into a specialist mental health hospital in 2011.
Frankie Bridge checks into mental health hospital
“I’d reached a point where I couldn’t cope with everyday life,” she told BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat in 2020.
“I was constantly crying and telling my partner [footballer Wayne Bridge] that I didn’t really want to be here anymore.”
At the time, Frankie had already committed to filming a music video shoot in Iceland. Frankie and her manager came to an agreement that she’d keep working and be admitted when the two-day shoot was over.
“Luckily it was a moody shoot so I didn’t have to put on this happy, smiley front,” she admitted.
‘I was anxious from the womb’
While speaking to The Guardian in 2024, Frankie insisted she has been “anxious from the womb”.
“It’s who I am. As a child, my thoughts would happen at night-time: I’d struggle to breathe and have stomach aches,” she continued.
“Depression came in my late teens. The doctor suggested therapy and I was outraged. “I’m British. We don’t do that.” Then I realised anxiety had spilled over into something else.”
Frankie revealed her grandmother gave her the nickname Sunshine and Showers because she was “either happy or low, without much in between”.
Frankie’s book
In 2020, Frankie published a book, OPEN: Why Asking for Help Can Save Your Life, which “opens up about her ongoing journey from breakdown to breakthroughs and through self-loathing, hospitalisation and self-acceptance”.
While promoting the book, Frankie shared with Happiful: “Knowledge is key. Know what is happening to you, find someone you can confide in, and don’t give yourself such a hard time. Remember, a better day is around the corner.”
Read more: ‘Disappointed’ Frankie Bridge reveals she can’t drive amid ‘stressful’ medication update
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