Table of Contents
Frankie Bridge Reveals “Only Way to Take Control” Eating Disorder During Fame of The Saturdays
Frankie Bridge has revealed how she went through an eating disorder when she was with The Saturdays and how, in a way, it was the only method she could use to “take control” of her life when it felt that her life “wasn’t her own”.
The 37-year-old singer who became famous with her bandmates Mollie King, Rochelle Humes, Una Healy, and Vanessa White, was facing the duo of depression and eating disorder while the band was very successful. She confessed that she was so obsessed with clean eating at that time that “I wouldn’t touch a carb, ever.”
In an interview with the Daily Mail’s The Life Of Bryony podcast, Bridge revealed that when things looked overwhelming, she was able to deal with food as it became a thing she could hold on to and control.
“I had a very disciplined schedule. I only drank the stuff which I knew would give me energy. If I was really hungry, maybe a cereal bar or some chicken,” she disclosed. “I guess it was partly about the way I looked, but it was more of a control thing. Of course, there was pressure to look a certain way being in a girl band and that pressure was absolutely coming from me.”
Frankie Bridge Reveals How Her Anxiety Made Her Unaware of Not Eating
Frankie Bridge talked about how her anxiety was so deeply linked to her disordered eating that she hardly had any appetite and also was pretty oblivious to what she was eating.
“It mainly stemmed from, this is the only way I can have any control over my day to day life. Since my anxiety was so extreme, I didn’t feel hunger either,” she explained. “I was never aware that I wasn’t eating. It was only when I came out of my therapy sessions and my hands were shaking and she said, ‘You really need to eat something.'”
Bridge has also confessed to having to deal with depression which had started soon after her involvement with The Saturdays when she was only 17.
“The depression actually originated quite soon after The Saturdays. At the very beginning of a band, you never get time to stop working. Your whole life changes, it’s like it is no longer yours,” she explained. “I loved it, I have nothing bad to say about being in The Saturdays. It is just that every day you kind of wait to be told what it is that you are going to do. I never had to think for myself. I think it took its toll.”
She revealed that a very public breakup made her situation even harder. “I think I lost control of my life, my world and I couldn’t figure out what was expected of me… Probably it was burn out. I also had an eating disorder at that time.”
Frankie Bridge Says Mollie King “Held Me Up” Before Concert Breakdown
Frankie Bridge has remembered a time when she was overwhelmed with emotions and stress just before a concert in Ireland. Mollie King, her bandmate, came to find her crying.
“We had one concert, I think it was in Ireland. The moment we got to the hotel, I went into my room, switched everything off, closed the curtains, and went straight to bed,” Frankie told. “I think it was Mollie who came into my room. She hadn’t seen me like that before and I was just crying uncontrollably. I was also like, ‘I can’t do the show.’ Actually, I did it, but it was basically with her holding me up.”
After that concert, the situation got serious and medical help was sought. “Following that, my doctor and everyone came to my house and they said, ‘You have to go to the hospital.’ That’s the only way you’ll get the time you need because of my job,” she said.
Frankie managed to get into the hospital with the help of her agent but admitted that it was like sneaking. “It was as if I had a dirty secret that I was going to hospital. The girls didn’t know, no one knew.”
She revealed that Wayne Bridge, whom she was dating and is now her husband, was the one who helped her get through it.
“Wayne brought me to the hospital. I was practically handing myself over. He was really my support—he even tried to talk to my therapists to understand better. It was a hard time and he was there till the end.
Frankie Bridge says ketamine therapy was a life changer
During a widely ranging discussion, Frankie Bridge also revealed that she had tried ketamine therapy and how it had helped her mental health.
Ketamine therapy is a treatment that uses the drug at low amounts for the purpose of mental health and chronic pain treatment. In some cases, patients feel an instant relief of depressive symptoms, as soon as after a couple of hours.
She explained that over one year she had no professional help but when she got to a point where she felt she was going to have to pick up the path of therapy again, a new therapist suggested ketamine treatment and she started at Christmas time.
“For a year I didn’t see anyone then I fell into a situation where this thing had to be set aside and got picked up again.”, “It was like, ‘Frank, you’re not fixed — you need someone to come in’ and I got introduced to a new psychiatrist who does ketamine therapy,” she told.
She mentioned that the idea had been discussed with her old therapist as well and then she finally decided to give it a try. “I was just like, you know, I have nothing to lose. I have to try something.”
Frankie said at that time her dark thoughts were recurring. “I was in this very place where I was going back to those kind of thoughts, ‘If I weren’t here, it would be easier for everyone. It’s so unfair – why bother doing anything?’”
Frankie Bridge Calls Ketamine Therapy “Life-Changing” Despite Their Initial Fears
Although she was frightened at first, Frankie Bridge decided to do it — and now she says it was one of her best decisions.
“I was scared out of my wits because I have never taken a drug in my life,” she confessed. “To me, drugs mean — that you either have a really good night out or you die and I’m just not sure it’s worth the risk. So, for me, it was a huge thing.”
She also described the heaviness of her first session, which was right before Christmas. “I remember the first time feeling like this is really sad that it has got to this point — it’s almost Christmas, everyone sounds happy doing their Christmas shopping and I have worked so hard and I’m not in a state where my body would accept an IV of medicine. And I just thought it was sad.”
Nevertheless, Frankie has still described the treatment as “life-changing” and is looking forward to it becoming more accessible to people who genuinely need it.
“It probably has been the most effective therapy I have had in all these years,” she told the press. “It’s strange because it’s all about what happens to you during the session — as it lowers your ego completely and it takes you into an out of body experience where you’re dissociated.”
Frankie Bridge Describes Ketamine Therapy as “A Real Ride”
Frankie Bridge gave a more detailed explanation to make us understand what ketamine therapy really feels like that it unties the brain to deal with the emotions that you have been hiding for a long time.
“Those are probably things that you have pushed away, that you have never actually experienced, and the brain gets to work and process them,” she explained.
She said that it was an intense and emotional experience. “Sometimes it seems really dark and sometimes I feel really small but at the same time really big. I can feel like I am a piece of mud on a shoe and then it becomes very bright and I feel very free”
Frankie said that the sessions can be so intense that the peak can feel overwhelming. “It’s a real ride and that’s why I always get to the point where I feel the furthest away and I wonder if I will ever come back. So, I put my hand out and the therapist takes it, and I know I’m safe.”
She said the treatment was “amazing” and “life-changing,” but at the same time, she was still aware of the fact that it was expensive and not easy for everyone to get it. “It is really a pity since it has been a turning point for me,” she said of how the therapy helps by growing and connecting new neurons which will be beneficial even after the session is over.
