Frankie Bridge has detailed her ‘shame’ she felt performing with The Saturdays on stage after gaining four stone in her first pregnancy.
During Friday’s Loose Women, the singer, 32, opened up about her issues with depression as she told how she felt ’embarrassed’ about singing with the band with her changing shape.
Frankie, who shares sons Parker, seven and Carter, five, with husband Wayne Bridge, admitted that at the time, she thought ‘people were looking at me saying: “She is disgusting, why is she there?”.’
Past struggles: Frankie Bridge has detailed her ‘shame’ she felt performing with The Saturdays on stage after gaining four stone in her first pregnancy.
Speaking on the panel, the star recalled battling with her mental health and her discomfort at performing sexy dance moves alongside Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, Una Healy and Vanessa White, who all looked ‘the same as before.’
She explained: ‘I stayed on antidepressants while pregnant with help from my GP. For me and everyone, we were quite aware I could get postnatal depression but I didn’t.
‘My depression was worse during my pregnancy because I found coming from someone who really restricted my eating and really controlled my food and my weight and being in the public eye, that sudden feeling of being so out of control of my body was really hard for me.’
Candid: During Friday’s Loose Women, the singer, 32, opened up about her issues with depression as she told how she felt ’embarrassed’ about singing with the band while pregnant (pictured in May 2013)
Touching on her four stone weight gain after giving birth to Parker in October 2013, she continued: ‘Publicly people were seeing me be different and commenting on that.
‘I actually felt this real shame of stepping out on-stage and embarrassment of still being on-stage because I was doing all these sexy dance moves and just the whole time, I felt people were looking at me and thinking, “she’s disgusting”, why is she there?’
Sympathising with Frankie’s feelings and other women who’ve felt the same, Nadia Sawalha added: ‘We’re so awful to ourselves as women, you’re growing life. It’s so sad.’
Fears: Frankie, who shares sons Parker, seven and Carter, five, with husband Wayne Bridge , admitted that at the time, she thought ‘people were looking at me saying: “She is disgusting, why is she there?”‘
Uncomfortable: Speaking on the panel, the star recalled battling with her mental health and her discomfort at performing sexy dance moves alongside Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, Una Healy and Vanessa White (all pictured), who all looked ‘the same as before’
Tough: ‘My depression was worse during my pregnancy because I found coming from someone who really restricted my eating and really controlled my food… that sudden feeling of being so out of control of my body was really hard for me’
Frankie went on to say that even today, she still feels an element of ‘shame’ over her post-baby figure.
She said: ‘I do carry some of that shame because I have stretch marks and I have looser skin in places and I feel like coming from the position I was in being in a band, I feel like I shouldn’t have that.
‘I should be some kind of supernatural woman that her body doesn’t change. I don’t “look” like a mum.’
She went on to say of becoming a mum quite young: ‘I was 24. I think for me, what we’re getting better at talking about, we are told we have to love every second, have to be great every minute, every day, it is not humanly possible.
Anxious: Touching on her four stone weight gain after giving birth to Parker in October 2013, she continued: ‘Publicly people were seeing me be different and commenting on that
Honest: ‘I actually felt this real shame of stepping out on-stage and embarrassment of still being on-stage because I was doing all these sexy dance moves and I felt people were looking at me and thinking, “she’s disgusting” (pictured in 2013)
‘It’s why women find it hard in times struggling or not loving it, without having to say: “I really love my child but…” we shouldn’t have to say that.’
Frankie has always been candid about her battle with depression and last months she admitted it ‘scares her’ to see how much she needs her antidepressants.
The All Fired Up hitmaker admitted she was ‘really emotional and crying all the time’ as she struggled with ‘bad withdrawals’ after forgetting to order more medication.
Worrying: Frankie has always been candid about her battle with depression and last months she admitted it ‘scares her’ to see how much she needs her antidepressants
Frankie told the Loose Women panel she’s ‘sad’ that the issues of mental health are only being discussed because they’ve been heightened during the Covid pandemic, after openly discussing her struggles with anxiety and depression.
Frankie shared a video revealing her struggles with withdrawal symptoms after being left without her antidepressants over the Easter weekend.
She told Jane Moore, Kaye Adams and Paris Fury that this was the worst side effects she’d ever had from failing to take her medication.
‘You’d think after all these years of suffering with depression and anxiety that I would’ve learned when I’m near the end I need to reorder my medication,’ Frankie said.
Candid: The Saturdays star admitted she was ‘really emotional and crying all the time’ as she struggled with ‘bad withdrawals’ after forgetting to order more medication
Hard: She told the Loose Women panel: ‘I’ve done it a few times before stupidly and didn’t get those side effects but this time it really did get me’
‘I had just so happened to run out of my tablets the day before the bank holiday which meant I couldn’t get them even longer.
‘I’ve been having withdrawal symptoms, I get dizzy eyes, I feel sick. I’ve done it a few times before stupidly and didn’t get those side effects but this time it really did get me.’
She added: ‘It scares me how much I need them because my mood just plummeted. I was really emotional, I wanted to cry all the time and having to put on that brave face like everything is OK.’
Difficult: ‘I was really emotional, I wanted to cry all the time and having to put on that brave face like everything is OK,’ she added
Family: The mother-of-two told fans that being really busy over the past month hit her hard, leading her to forget to order more antidepressants (pictured with sons Parker and Carter as well as husband Wayne)