‘Bridgerton’ star Ruby Barker hospitalised
Ruby Barker, one of the stars of the hit Netflix show Bridgerton, was hospitalised this week with a broken arm following an accident at a climbing wall.
Barker updated fans that she sustained a broken arm during a bouldering session in Leeds, a climbing sport where a harness isn’t used. The accident was captured on video, showing the actor falling from a considerable height and landing on her arm after attempting a challenging route. Clearly in a lot of pain, she was then rushed to the hospital, where she was informed of the break.
Barker shared the clip on Instagram with the caption: “You ok? This is what happened”. She also shared further updates from the hospital and, in one post, wrote: “Love gas and air; apparently, I didn’t want to give it back but have no memory of that”.
Barker’s fall materialised only days after she revealed that she’d been diagnosed with bipolar, after a challenging few years dealing with several issues related to her mental health. She wrote in an Instagram post: “Hi, I’m bipolar. I have a diagnosis now, cause for celebration”.
This follows Barker’s update in October 2023, when she revealed on Oxford University’s LOAF Podcast that she suffered her first “psychotic break” in 2019, following production wrapping on the first instalment of Bridgerton. She also said another emerged in 2022 and that she received “no support” from Netflix or Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland.
“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,” Barker said. “Nobody.”
She claimed that her mental health battle started during the filming of the romantic drama, with the isolated nature of her character particularly damaging. “During filming, I was deteriorating,” she reflected. “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.” She also claimed her hospitalisation a week after the first season was shot was covered up and kept quiet.
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