Ruby Barker, who played Marina in the first two seasons of Netflix’s The Bridgerton Chronicle, today lamented the platform’s lack of support. After filming the series, the actress had to be hospitalized.
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Despite the beautiful costumes and great love stories portrayed in it, Netflix’s flagship series, The Bridgertons Chronicles, may not be as caring as we thought. At least that’s what actress Ruby Barker denounces in the LOAF podcast at Oxford University. The one who played in Season 1 – and very briefly in Season 2 – Marina, cousin of the Featherington family, says she did two psychotic attacks during the filming of the series. She regrets the lack of support she received from the show’s team at the time. Ruby Barker explains that the first crisis erupted shortly after filming of the first season was completed in 2019. “Not a single person from Netflix or even Shondaland [le studio de production derrière Bridgerton, ndlr] has never contacted me or even emailed me to find out how I was feeling after these two psychotic attacks and to offer me any help or support.”
Ruby Barker felt the same way as her character in The Bridgertons Chronicles.
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The actress believes that the atmosphere of filming and the very isolated nature of her character worsened her mental state, which was already fragile when she came on the show. “I was in so much pain because my character was very alienated, very excluded and really alone in terrible circumstances,” she says. In fact, young Marina is adopted into the Featherington family to hide her forbidden pregnancy since she is not married. The young woman suffers both from her condition and from the departure of her lover, a soldier. The secrecy and shenanigans of Lady Featherington, her hostess, and the rumors spread by Lady Whistledown don’t help her either.
Preserve the Bridgerton Chronicles image at all costs?
Ruby Barker reveals she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital just a week after filming the first season of The Bridgertons wrapped. “It was really hidden and kept secret because the series was about to come out“, she explains now. “It’s almost like I have an invisible gun to my head to sell this show because it’s light and fun.” Neither Netflix nor Shondaland have yet responded to these disturbing revelations. The actress, who announced her final exit from the series, had already spoken about her mental state after her hospitalization.
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Article written in collaboration with 6Médias