Frankie Bridge has won praise online after opening up about her battle with depression.
The former Saturdays star appeared on Loose Women on Wednesday, where she got candid about the stigma around taking medication for mental illnesses.
The 32-year-old explained that she ran out of her antidepressants over the Bank Holiday weekend, and admitted she was “really emotional and crying all the time” as she struggled with “bad withdrawals”.
The singer said: “It was completely my fault, and you’d think after all these years of suffering with depression and anxiety, and being on antidepressants, that I would have learnt that when I am getting near the end, I need to reorder my medication.”
“But I forget all the time, and I have been really busy over the last few weeks, and I just so happened to run out of my tablets the day before bank holiday, which obviously meant I couldn’t get them for longer.”
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“So I had been feeling really rubbish, I was having withdrawal symptoms, really dizzy eyes and headaches, and feeling sick.”
“They come on quite quickly it’s quite surprising, I have done it before stupidly, and I didn’t really get those side effects, but this time it really did get me,” she confessed.
“I felt like life was going on around me and I wasn’t really in it, like I was in a dream, it scares me how much I need them, because my mood just plummeted, I was really emotional wanted to cry all the time and wanted to be in bed all the time.”
“I had to put a brave face on and pretend everything was okay, it is really frustrating,” the mum-of-two added.
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“Not everybody needs medication, and there is a big stigma around it, people can’t wait to come off it or they are scared it will change their personality. For me the two have to go together, therapy and medication, they fix the issue together.”
Following her candid conversation, viewers took to Twitter to praise Frankie for opening up about her struggles.
One fan wrote: “As a parent of someone going through anxiety and depression I wanted to say thanks for being so open about mental health issues. I’m not normally a watcher of loose women but was on in the background heard your discussion and came in to watch. Thank you x”
Another tweeted: “@FrankieBridge thank you for discussing the fact you are on medication. I also take medication for mental health and am not afraid to admit this. However I do believe it’s still a taboo subject and frowned upon. Well done for having strength to discuss openly.”
@loosewomen @FrankieBridge it's like you have spoken many of the words I think around mental health, mediation for depression, trainers, confidence in heels, acting like you are ok when you're not…etc! Plus your book resonated so much with me. Thank you for being open x ❤🙏🏼
— Sharon Luca (@slc_sharon) April 14, 2021
@loosewomen I take medication for depression and anxiety. I do believe it's still stigmatized.@FrankieBridge is woman others look up to so by speaking out. May help lessen the embarrassment fellow mental health sufferer's feel. keep up the real conversations.
— Jo (@anythingjo) April 14, 2021
@FrankieBridge thank you for discussing the fact you are on medication. I also take medication for mental health and am not afraid to admit this. However I do believe it's still a taboo subject and frowned upon. Well done for having strength to discuss openly,❤️❤️❤️
— Jo (@anythingjo) April 14, 2021
Thanks to @FrankieBridge for her talk on mental health on @loosewomen today. Reminded me to get my meds ordered, as I’m someone who can’t go without #stopthestigma
— Kerry 🪴 (@HelloKerry96) April 14, 2021
@loosewomen @FrankieBridge thankful for your comments just now xx
— craig hope (@CraigEboy26) April 14, 2021
Wow @FrankieBridge I have never been able to relate more in my life 💛🧡 Thank you for using speaking out about depression and mental health so openly and honestly ✨✨ @loosewomen
— Danielle Aspley (@DaniiAspley) April 14, 2021
@FrankieBridge so nice to hear you openly speak about depression I have suffered years and found last few months tough and have decided to change my medication and it was good to hear someone say life going on around you … it’s helps knowing your not the only one 😊
— Sophellies (@Sophellies) April 14, 2021
