Why Marina actress Ruby Barker left Bridgerton, and was hospitalised over her mental health

Over the years it’s been on Netflix, many cast members have left Bridgerton. If you really think back to the start of the show, you might remember Marina, who had a bit of a scandal with Colin Bridgerton.

Marina Thompson was lined up to marry Colin. She fell pregnant out of marriage, and tried to get Colin Bridgerton to marry her to cover up the scandal. In season two, Marina returned with her baby, married to Phillip Craine.

Then, she wasn’t seen again. This was because actress Ruby Barker left the show. She told Digital Spy at the time: “I wouldn’t return to Bridgerton because A) it wouldn’t be my choice, and B) when I did Bridgerton – obviously this is very much in the public knowledge and stuff like that – I had a mental health crisis. It’s not going to happen, I’ve done my bit.”

In 2022, actress Ruby then spoke out about her struggles with her mental health. She said she had been in hospital, and struggled since filming Bridgerton. At the time, Ruby thanked her friends, and Netflix and Shonda Rhimes for the opportunity they gave her with the show. But since then, she called out Netflix and Shondaland for failing to support her during two psychotic breaks that occurred after the show.

via Netflix

‘I was raged-filled, I felt so alone’

After it was revealed she would not be returning to her role as Marina Thompson in Bridgerton, Ruby Barker said she’d “not been completely honest” over her health. She posted a video to Instagram, fully addressing her situation.

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She said: “Mental health week is every week for me. Off my chest. I feel like I’ve not been completely honest so this is for my followers. Time to be transparent. I’ve been struggling since Bridgerton, this is the truth. Thank you all for supporting me, your love holds me up.”

She later added: “I am better, I’ve been really unwell. I’m in hospital, I’m going to be discharged soon.” She went on to say she was going to be taking a break for herself, and encouraged others to be less hard on themselves. “I haven’t hit rock bottom, I’m on new heights,” she said.

Describing how she felt, Ruby said: “I was raged-filled, angry, all this intergenerational trauma bundled up inside me, I was carrying the weight of the world on my back and now I am at the point where I have a diagnosis, I am drawing a line in the sand. I can’t carry on the way that I was, I need to change so that is what I am trying to do.”

She continued: “I felt so alone, I was trying to hold onto my mental health, applying so much pressure. You need to learn that people love you and be kind to yourself.”

Ruby then called out Netflix

Ruby Barker in 2023, via Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/Shutterstock

When Ruby first spoke out, she thanked friends, as well as Netflix and Shonda Rhimes for the opportunity they gave her with the show. But then, she called out Netflix and Shondaland for failing to support her.

“Not a single person from Netflix, not a single person from Shondaland, since I have had two psychotic breaks from that show, have even contacted me or even emailed me to ask me if I’m okay or if I would benefit from any sort of aftercare or support,” she said during an interview on Oxford University’s LOAF Podcast. “Nobody.”

In the same interview she said she was “deteriorating” during filming, and said: “It was a really tormenting place for me to be because my character was very alienated, very ostracised, on her own under these horrible circumstances.”

The Tab previously reached out to Netflix for comment, but don’t not receive a reply.

Bridgerton is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.