‘Bridgerton’ actress Ruby Barker shares losing weight improved her mental health

Barker used the hashtags #bodypositive and #mentalhealth in describing her before-and-after photos, noting her “weight loss and toning up” was “a byproduct of inner work.” 

Ruby Barker is improving her mental health and wellness one day at a time.

The 26-year-old actress, who played Marina Thompson on “Bridgerton,” shared before-and-after photos of her weight loss Thursday on Instagram, noting that she hasn’t always been happy with the person she saw when looking in the mirror, People reported.

“I felt like I’d lost not only my mind,” Barker wrote, “but my will to take care of my inner child and cook for her, clean for her, work for her, get out and live for her.” 

Barker used the hashtags #bodypositive and #mentalhealth in describing both photographs as “beautiful bodies,” sharing that her “weight loss and toning up” was not the result of a specific diet regimen but rather “a byproduct of inner work.” 

She attributed her transformation to moving, cooking, sleeping and “accepting where I am and still getting back up.”

“It’s not been an overnight thing,” Barker noted, contending “it took months for me to completely surrender to my lifestyle adaptations with the aim to better my physical, spiritual, and emotional health; small changes quickly became big wins.”

She said she used to have panic attacks at the mere thought of stepping foot in a gym. Sometimes, she said, she’d pretend she wasn’t out of breath after climbing stairs and run to the bathroom to regain it. 

Barker, who appears in the upcoming horror movie “Baghead,” also shared that she would starve herself all day, then binge eat until she started feeling bad, only to turn around and repeat the process.

In her Instagram picture, she praised her trainer, Muyi, who shared her post and wrote, “Amazing progress from Ruby!!! We still cooking.”

Barker is a vocal mental health reform advocate. Last year, she shared that she’d been hospitalized for mental health treatment, an experience she called “Scary. Inadequate, Clinical” as she expressed the need for more funding.

While speaking about her mental health made her “feel a sense of vulnerability,” Barker said she believes it’s critical, People reported, “to be transparent about my own struggles with my mental health in order to help others.”

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post ‘Bridgerton’ actress Ruby Barker shares losing weight improved her mental health appeared first on TheGrio.