A Loose Women star opened up about her health struggles, revealing that they left her "in the depths of despair" as she admitted, "I was really crying."
Frankie Bridge, chatting to Kaye Adams, opened up about ageing and anxiety on the third episode of Loose Women: The Podcast. During the episode, Frankie opened up on how she discusses her mental health struggles with her young children: “It's a hard one because I feel like my answer should be that they know everything. I feel like I should have had the conversation with them, that I do suffer with depression and anxiety, but I think it's a hard conversation to have with them because I don't know how much of it they really understand.”
She continued: “I think the anxiety side they know about, because my youngest often talks to me about anxiety and that's quite an open conversation that we have but depression, I feel like is harder to explain.” Frankie admitted: “Actually my youngest caught me not that long ago in the depths of despair, on a day I was having a particularly bad day and I was just really, really crying. He came in and I just completely panicked... And he said, ‘Mummy, are you okay? What's wrong?’ and I just said, ‘Oh, I've got a really bad migraine’. He kind of accepted that and said, ‘Oh, I hope you feel better and kind of left’.
She continued: “I didn't really realise how much that had sat with him until my birthday a couple of months ago. Wayne said to me, ‘Look, there's a present that Carter wanted me to get for you’... “When I opened it, it was two boxes of ibuprofen and he said to Wayne, ‘Should we get her something that can help with migraines because she gets them really bad, doesn't she?’ and then that's why he'd got them. Actually, I just thought that was so sweet but then I thought, I'm really going to have to explain this to him. Otherwise, every time when he's growing up, someone cries, he’s going to think they've got a migraine.”
Frankie recently slammed "double standards" as she bravely revealed she has been trolled for her parenting. The former Saturdays singer issued a lengthy message in response to fans who criticise her decisions when it comes to raising her two sons, Parker and Carter. She called out the comments after being branded "the worst wife and mother" as she shone a spotlight on the abuse she has been sent.
Frankie made it clear her husband Wayne Bridge has never received such hateful messages when he does solo work away from the family home. She revealed it came to a head when she took time for herself following her health battles and went away with her close friend for four days. The Loose Women star has been candid about finding a tumour in her neck, which was benign.
The mum-of-two wrote: "I’ve learned to be pretty thick skinned during my years in the public eye and I deal with these comments every day. But these comments aren’t just directed at someone in my position. A lot of women have a similar experience in many different ways.
"As I was growing up, I feel I was very naïve to the double standards set upon women, and never really felt they applied to me. I think that because I hadn’t experienced any sort of sexual harassment in the workplace, I felt I’d come out unscathed. When really all I needed to do was recognise the very obvious differences in expectations of a boy band and a girl band. The double standards were right there staring me in the face.”
Frankie explained how Wayne encouraged her to take a four-day holiday after “suffering with various illnesses that became harder to ignore, they took their toll and my mental health plummeted”. She revealed: “I and everyone else around me could see I needed a break and I reluctantly took the holiday, squeezed in at a time that would cause minimal damage to the boys’ schedule and mine.
“This meant fitting in as much as possible before I went away, still be contactable and hitting the ground running when I returned.” Frankie instantly felt guilty for leaving her family but finally relaxed and realised she deserved the break when she admitted Wayne was more than capable of solo parenting their boys.
However, she explained the "online warriors did not agree". Frankie was hit by messages such as "who's looking after the kids?" and "how does Wayne feel about you going away without him?". She hit back: "I spoke to Wayne about it whilst I was away and asked him if anyone had said anything like this to him when he goes on holiday without me or the kids.
