Frankie Bridge has bravely opened up about her hospitalisation following her breakdown

In the new book, 'Open: Why Asking For Help Can Save Your Life', Frankie, 31, wrote: "For as long as I can remember I had suffered from anxiety, nervousness, the big black cloud, stress, low moods, sadness.

"I lived with it in silence and tried to conquer it alone. I had trouble sleeping, lacked energy and had lost my appetite and my libido."

Frankie reached her breaking point whilst filming a music video with The Saturdays and was eventually admitted to Nightingale Hospital in London.

In the book - which is being serialised in the Daily Mail newspaper - she recalled: "As soon as I got there, doctors put me on new medication - venlafaxine, clonazepam and diphenhydramine -sleeping tablets in such high doses my first few days in hospital are a blur.

"I hadn't had a good night's rest for so long, it was a relief to silence my mind so it could just switch off. It was all I wanted, not to think, not to be inside my own brain, locked in my own painful internal battle"

Elsewhere, the 'Issues' hitmaker took the opportunity to thank her husband - then boyfriend - soccer player Wayne Bridge who admitted her into rehab.

She added: "He was my constant, the person who knew me inside out and had seen me at my worst and most vulnerable. He made me feel safe and loved. I couldn't have done it with anyone else."

Although her depression badly affected the former footballer as he dramatically lost weight due to the stress of his girlfriend's health.

Frankie continued: "Learning about my illness and realising he couldn't make me happy was a lot for him to take on. He lost a lot of weight around then and ended up the lightest he has ever been. Now we think it was due to the stress, but at the time I didn't notice how badly everything was affecting him.

"As we've spoken about my breakdown over the years since, the stress it caused him has come out in both anger and sadness."