When celebrities speak out about their mental health, something significant happens. Not only do people learn more about a condition they may previously have known little about, but the awareness raised a public figure can do plenty in the fight against stigma, helping other people who struggle with their mental health to feel less isolated.

It’s this phenomenon which makes Frankie Bridge’s story – from her hospitalised breakdown to her experiences with suicidal thoughts – so important. The Saturdays star has spoken openly about dealing with mental health conditions including depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in the past, and in her new book Open: Why Asking For Help Can Save Your Life, she shares how the latter affected her day-to-day life.

In an excerpt released by The Sun, Bridge reveals how her OCD manifested as anxiety around cleanliness and hygiene, meaning she feared that the cutlery provided in hotels and restaurants wouldn’t be clean.

“I went through a phrase of carrying plastic cutlery everywhere,” Bridge writes. “We stopped off at so many service stations and I just couldn’t trust that the knives and forks had been cleaned properly.”

Frankie Bridge explains why her OCD led her to carry plastic cutlery “everywhere”