Frankie Bridge on confidence wobbles, sex as a busy parent and why The Saturdays aren’t ready to reunite
LET's break this down. Frankie Bridge has the natural beauty of a young Natalie Wood, a heart-shaped face with the most radiant skin, and an eye-popping set of rock-hard abs, which are all the more incredible given she’s had two babies.
And yet, bafflingly, she says she suffers from insecurities about her looks and doesn’t think there will ever be a time when she’ll be 100% happy with herself.
“Everyone says when you get to 30 you really accept yourself, but I’m 29 now and I can’t see that there’s going to be that much of a change in the way I think and feel. I definitely can’t ever see myself thinking: ‘I’m amazing.’ I’m just quite a self-conscious person.
"It doesn’t rule my life, but I sit down with most of my girlfriends and not one of us is ever entirely happy. There will always be something.”
Women tormenting themselves with misplaced insecurities over their bodies is neither new nor surprising. But it’s such a shame to hear.
“It’s really sad, I know,” she says sincerely. “Cos I say to all my friends they look amazing and not to be silly, and they’d all the same back to me. But you don’t see what everyone else sees.
“I work on my abs – they have always been easy for me. But my legs and bum are harder, and those are the parts I’m most self-conscious of.
“I’m just one of those people, and I’ll always be a bit like that. Some weeks I feel good and others I don’t.”
In the past she’s done various quick-fix diets such as juicing, but has learned that they’re not for her.
“Some people swear by things like that but I just can’t do it. It turns me into such a cow. I get grumpy and then I get hysteria and giggles because I’m so hungry. I can’t last like that. And I need energy for the boys.”
The boys are her sons – four-year-old Parker and his little brother Carter, two – with ex-footballer husband Wayne Bridge.
Frankie and Wayne, 37, got together at the end of 2010 and married in July 2014. Both of them have been open about the impact having children has had on their relationship – and their sex life.
When Wayne was in the I’m A Celebrity! jungle at the end of 2016, his light-hearted comments about “not getting as much” made national headlines.
And last year Frankie revealed on Married To A Celebrity: The Survival Guide that Wayne’s timing for “putting the moves on” needed work and an, ahem, pressing 2am wake-up call wasn’t likely to get her in the mood.
Wayne, who was sitting alongside her during the interview, joked back: “You have a lot of headaches.”
Today, Frankie says she’s only spoken out about an issue most parents of young children will relate to. “It’s not like some huge secret, but some people were really shocked I said it,” she says. “It’s not like I’ve delved into what our favourite positions are on a Friday!
“I said something that most women would relate to and most men would go: ‘Oh yeah,’ to as well.”
Much of it boils down to tiredness, she admits. Perhaps relationships would benefit if we all lowered our expectations of ourselves and each other just a little and stopped the comparisons to other couples.
“Everyone’s lives are so busy and we have to juggle friendships, relationships, work, kids, running a household, going to the gym, everything.
"We’re expected to stay on top of everything, and then to add sex on top of it… Sometimes it’s just not the time, and you’re tired, and I don’t feel like I’m [revealing] too much by saying that. Maybe I’m too open and honest!
“With social media, everyone puts out the lives they want people to see. I’ve got friends who have posted a picture with their boyfriends on a night out looking like the most loved-up couple ever, and yet I know they’ve had a blazing row five minutes before it was taken.
“We all compare ourselves to each other, and I think it’s really refreshing when I meet people who are honest, so I try to be like that as much as possible.
“No relationship is perfect. I love Wayne, he loves me, we have some amazing moments together and the kids are lovely. But we also have days where the kids are driving us mad and we’re both tired, and that’s just life. I don’t think there’s any shame in that. You just have to deal with it.”
His stint in I’m A Celebrity! showed Wayne’s softer, more emotional side – although Frankie says he’s not exactly the last of the great romantics.
“Back in the day, maybe,” she says, laughing.
“He’s more thoughtful. These days romantic means something different. Like with Valentine’s Day – I’ve always said I’m not really into it, but he said: ‘I know we don’t really do Valentine’s Day, but shall we go to the cinema and get something to eat the day before so → it’s not as cringey?’
"And that really got me, and it’s made me up for months now! He made the effort to suggest doing something. We only went to Nando’s and to the cinema up the road, so it wasn’t anything major, but it meant a lot.
“I think it’s really important you have days where you stop and have a chat and remember why you had kids together in the first place. A happy couple makes for a happy family, and sometimes it’s hard to fit that in, but we have fantastic grandparents [who help with the kids]. I’m only 29 – I do still like to go out!”
Since The Saturdays went on a hiatus in 2014, Frankie has gone on to reach the final of Strictly Come Dancing and tried her hand at presenting, as well as fronting an acclaimed documentary about trolling on Channel 5.
For the last few weeks she’s been based in New York, where she’s been on an intensive acting course, and says breaking into musical theatre is her ultimate ambition.
“That would be the dream – singing, acting and dancing,” she admits.
She has no desire to release a solo record, though.
“With music, it’s 24/7, and it’s like a non-stop rollercoaster – go, go, go, all the time. Now I like being a bit more choosy and weighing up if it’s something I believe in enough to justify spending time away from my children.
“I have days when I wonder if maybe I should have [tried a solo career], but only because people keep asking me! Otherwise I don’t think it would have crossed my mind. I don’t really have a need for it. I’m enjoying exploring new things at the moment.”
She’s here to support Superdrug’s #FeelSuper campaign, which raises money for Marie Curie and is now in its fourth year.
Until April 24, each time customers buy a P&G product such as Pantene, Olay, Venus or Oral B in a Superdrug store or via the website, a donation will be made to the charity. The campaign has raised £437,000 since its launch in 2015, and Frankie has seen first-hand where the money goes.
“I’ve been to the hospices and met the nurses and families and people with terminal illnesses, and so I’ve seen how much Marie Curie helps,” she says. “FeelSuper is about feeling good by doing something good for someone else, so I always say stock up on all your products in that month.”
Frankie is affable enough, responding graciously to questions and smiling in all the right places. But there’s not much time to scratch the surface in what ends up being a very rushed interview at the end of the shoot – and initial promises of a quick catch-up on the phone later to make up for this frustratingly don’t materialise.
The two members of her team sitting in on the chat move the questioning on in the middle of a distinctly uncontroversial conversation about Wayne.
And yet, having been in the public eye since the age of 12 when S Club Juniors started out, Frankie is surely more than capable of handling herself.
Does she feel like she’s missed out on anything starting out so young? Far from it.
“I think I was lucky,” she replies. “We were really well looked-after and sheltered from everything, and I saw it as having fun with my friends.
“There was never any pressure. We had no social media, so we had no idea if people liked us or not, which was really lovely. Had it happened now, it might have been a whole different thing.
“I look at younger people now… I think we were really lucky. Even at the beginning of The Saturdays, it wasn’t a thing, so I feel like I’ve grown with the times. I’m still friends with all my friends from home and school, and that’s kept me grounded.”
Baby number three is unlikely for the time being. Despite Frankie’s difficult pregnancies – she suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, the debilitating condition that also afflicted Kate Middleton – she says she’s more put off by the everyday stresses of parenthood.
“I go through phases where I’m broody, and then I have days where they drive me mad and I think: ‘Definitely not!’ But when they’re being lovely, I’m lured into a false sense of security. Maybe that’ll always be there.”
Feeling sociable?
Favourite social platform?
Instagram. It’s so fun being nosy!
Best Insta feed?
@Father_of_daughters’ take on parenting is hilarious and honest. I also like @Dicksontwinnies and @Mondays.child.
Secret to the perfect selfie?
I’m still learning! Any tips, send them my way.
Are you on Facebook under an alias?
Yes, but only because Facebook decided I was a fake and changed my name!
Last DM?
From my sister mucking around. She wrote: “Wheeey, sliding into Frankie’s DMs.”
Nevertheless, she would like to make a documentary exploring motherhood and the challenges, guilt and judgement that come with it.
“I find the whole mum world fascinating, how women can support each other but also bring each other down. We all want the same outcome – happy, healthy children – and unless you’re doing something terribly wrong, we all do it differently. Different lives, different children, and we’re all just trying to do the right thing.
“I was really shocked at how everyone has an opinion on everything from the minute you’re pregnant: ‘How are you going to have the baby, what kind of birth, are you going to breastfeed, are you going to use dummies, will you co-sleep?’ Literally everything. Who cares? Why do you care if my child has a dummy?
I don’t think you’re any better or worse as a woman whether you’ve had a natural birth or a C section, gas and air or an epidural. What difference does it make?]
“It’s not just women – men join in as well. Maybe people think they’re being helpful, I don’t know. I just say to new mums to do what they feel is right.”
What’s not on the cards, though, is a Saturdays reunion (sorry, pop fans). Frankie doesn’t even attempt to feign enthusiasm at the prospect, although all five girls remain great friends.
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“I don’t think any of us are in a rush to do it. We’re all getting to do our own thing so none of us are pushing it.”
They get together when they can and Frankie says it’s “just like family”.
“Vanessa’s still always late, and Mollie still says she’s just left but she hasn’t even got in the shower. It makes me laugh because nothing has changed.
“So I guess the option is always there because we’re all such good friends. And sometimes the longer you leave it, the better.”
- Frankie is supporting #FeelSuper to raise funds for Marie Curie with Superdrug until April 28 ().
- Hair & make-up: Malin Coleman using Bumble And Bumble and Mac
- Nails: Georgina McGing using OPI Lisbon Collection
- Styling: Nana Acheampong