Frankie Bridge Reveals Eating Disorder Struggles and Support

has told how she developed an eating disorder in when she felt like her life 'wasn't her own'.

The singer, 37, was one fifth of the pop group alongside her bandmates , , and .

She struggled with and an eating disorder when the band were at the height of their fame, admitting she 'wouldn't touch a carb, ever'.

Speaking on the Daily Mail's , Frankie said food was something she could control at a time when she felt like she had little in her life.

She explained: 'I had a real strict routine. I lived off drinks that would give me energy. If I was really hungry, I'd have a cereal bar or some chicken. 

'I think some of that was to do with how I looked, but it was mostly a control thing. I obviously felt the pressure to look a certain way, being in a girl band, but that came from me. 

'It mainly came from, this is the only way I can take any control of my day to day life. Because my anxiety was so bad, I wasn't hungry either. 

'I was never aware that I wasn't eating. It wasn't until I'd go into my therapy sessions and my hands would be shaking and she'd be like, you need to eat something.'

Frankie also discussed her battle with depression which began shortly after she .

She said: 'The depression started quite near the beginning of The Saturdays. When you first start in a band, you never stop working. Your life becomes not your own. 

'I loved it, I have nothing bad to say about being in The Saturdays. You're just kind of waiting to be told everyday what it is you're doing, I never had to think for myself. I think it took its toll. 

'I think I felt a loss of control around my life and what was expected of me. I was going through a breakup quite publicly and I think it all just came to a head. Probably burnout, I had an eating disorder around that time.' 

Things came to a head before a concert in Ireland when Frankie's bandmate Mollie King walked in on her crying in her hotel room.

She said: 'There was one show we did, I think it was in Ireland, and the minute we got to the hotel, I went in, shut all the lights off, closed the curtains and got straight into bed. 

'I think it was Molly who came into my room and she'd never seen me like that before. I couldn't stop crying and was like, "I can't do the show." I managed to but like with her basically holding me up. 

'After that, my doctor, they all came to my house and they were like, "you have to go to hospital." It's the only way you'll get the time you need because of my job. 

'I organised it all with my agent. It felt like I was keeping a dirty secret, that I was about to go into hospital. The girls didn't know, no one knew.'

Frankie   

She said: 'Wayne took me into hospital. I was so ready to hand myself over.  He was a real rock, he really tried to learn as much as he could by talking to my therapists. It was a tough time and he stuck it out.' 

Elsewhere during the in-depth chat, Frankie spoke about .

Ketamine therapy is a medical treatment that uses low doses of the dissociative anaesthetic to treat mental health conditions and chronic pain. It can produce rapid improvement in symptoms of depression, sometimes within hours. 

The singer said she got a new therapist who recommended the treatment to her, which began around Christmas. 

'For about a year I didn't see anybody then I got to a point where I had to pick this back up now, it was like "Frank, you're not fixed you need someone to come in," - and I got introduced to this new psychiatrist who does ketamine therapy. 

'It was something me and my old therapist had started to talk about and I was just like you know I've got nothing to lose. I need to try something. 

'I was in this real kind of space where I was starting to go into those patterns of, "Everyone would be better if I wasn't here anymore, it would be easier. I do all of this hard work and I still end up in the same thought patterns". 

'And he was like "I think you try it". I was terrified because I've never taken a drug in my life. For me I'm like taking drugs is, you'll either have a really good night out or you're going to die and I'm just not sure it's worth the risk. So for me it was a really big thing.

'I remember the first time doing it a few years ago around  time, thinking this is really sad it's got to this point it's nearly Christmas, everyone's sounding happy doing their Christmas shopping and I've worked so hard and I'm not in a position where I'm intravenously put into my body. And I just thought it was sad.'

Frankie has found the treatment to be 'life-changing' and hopes it becomes more widely available for people who may need it.

She said: 'It has probably been one of the most effective treatments that I have had in all these years. 

'It's a funny one because it's about the process of while you're having it because it lowers all of your ego and it puts you into an out of body experience so you're dissociated. 

'So things you've maybe pushed down, things you've never processed before, it gives your brain a chance to process them.