The Bridgertons are synonymous with romanticism, comedy and colorful costumes designed to take the hiccups out of anyone who enjoys light period productions. For actress Ruby Barker, who played Marina in the first two seasons, this was not exactly positive: she suffered psychotic breaks after filming and, since she did not fit the image they were trying to sell, she felt silenced and did not receive support from even Netflix or Shondaland, the production company behind the series.
“When I went to the hospital a week after filming the first season of Bridgerton, it was covered up and kept low profile because the show was about to come out,” Barker explained on the LOAF podcast. In his words, his mental health deteriorated rapidly during the recording process, in part because his character Marina was “very alienated, very excluded.” Remember that Marina, Barker's character, is a distant cousin of the Featheringtons who, as the audience discovers, is pregnant without having married.
“Not a single person from Netflix, not a single person from Shondaland since I had two psychotic breaks due to that series has contacted me or emailed me to ask if I am okay or if I could benefit from any form of care or support,” he explained. of those who used it in fiction that today is one of the most viewed original productions on the platform.
For her, the success of The Bridgertons became a particularly difficult experience because her life changed from one day to the next, finding herself associated with a romantic streaming phenomenon, but she did not have the support she expected for such a decisive moment in her life. She was trying to act like everything was okay when nothing was.
“It was almost as if he had a metaphorical invisible gun in his head to sell the series because this series is silly and fun,” he laments, and he did not want to appear with his health problems and spoil the promotional maneuvers for fear of never working again.
The Bridgertons romantic series, created by Chris Van Dusen that adapts the novels by Julia Quinn, has been produced and broadcast for two seasons in December 2020 and March 2022. Upon entering the list of the most viewed series on Netflix, it is already renewed for two more seasons, currently in production, and has even given rise to a prequel, Queen Charlotte, focused on the youth of the English monarch before the events recounted in Bridgerton.
