“We’re all scared”: Frankie Bridge on the pressure to hide pregnancy struggles

"Maternal mental health is still quite a taboo subject."

Frankie Bridge has called for an end to the stigma surrounding maternal mental health. The mum-of-two said there is too much pressure placed on pregnant women to embrace every minute and love pregnancy. She told ITV's Lorraine that the pressure to keep your struggles a secret can weigh down on you during an already vulnerable time in your life. She said: "I really do think if we can all open up more and say the things that we're struggling with or things that we don't necessarily enjoy, then other women can feel like they can say it." "Maternal mental health is still quite a taboo subject, we're all scared to say how we're really feeling or if we're struggling." "When I was first pregnant, I found pregnancy really difficult and I'd bump into other women and they'd gush about how lovely it is," the former singer explained. The Saturdays singer couldn't be more right. There is such a high expectation to have this Instagram-worthy, magical pregnancy, but that prevents women from opening up about their struggles. It makes them feel isolated and like the odd one out because it seems like every other mum-to-be is having a perfect pregnancy. The mum said she found pregnancy extremely overwhelming. "I assumed from what I was seeing at that time that I would just kind of have this little bump and nothing else would really change and actually my whole body changed, and for the first time I felt so out of control of the way that I looked," she shared. Bridge admitted that she felt like she didn't belong on stage when she was working with The Saturdays. "Going up on stage with the rest of the girls I found really difficult, I felt really ashamed that I'd lost control of my body, I felt embarrassed of my body and I felt like people were looking at me kind of thinking, 'what is she doing up on stage? She shouldn't be there'." The Forever Is Over singer is a mum to two sons- Parker and Carter. She has been speaking openly about mental health and sharing her own personal story to help raise awareness and strip the stigma surrounding mental health issues. Bridge was hospitalised with depression in 2011. Her latest book GROW: Motherhood, Mental Health & Me will focus on her life as a mum and mental health journey.