‘Ugly’: Sam Frost reveals darkest time on Home and Away

Bachelor star turned Home and Away actor Sam Frost has exclusively revealed how she hit rock bottom in her mental health struggle, and wound up in hospital.

Home and Away was Sam Frost’s big acting break. Few knew though the supreme acting job required just for her to make it to set.

Every day she would paste on a smile and parade the bubbly personality required to play her character, Jasmine Delaney.

Inside, she was dying.

“I had a really bad patch, probably the worst one, I remember I was at Home and Away and I can’t remember the catalyst for it and it is just one of those things where it just sweeps, you try to bury it, keep busy and then all of a sudden it just swallows you whole,” Frost said on the season three launch episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast.

“I remember I had had enough and I was tired of feeling the pain all the time … and so I tried to do something very silly and obviously it didn’t work, thank goodness.”

Actor, radio host and media personality Sam Frost appearing on Mental As Anyone podcast. Picture: Christian Gilles

Frost, 35, spent time in hospital and sought ongoing help from a psychologist, along with support from her loving family

She gave a big shout out to her fellow-cast and crew, particularly Jake Ryan, who played her on-screen partner on the TV soap.

“I came back to work after I had been to hospital and I had not been well at all. He just carried me through that time massively,” Frost explained.

“He supported me … I don’t think I would have got through it because I had to show up at work and do scenes and pretend that you are all bubbly and happy. Jakey was like, ‘I’ve got you, I promise you I’ve got you’.”

Jake Ryan and Sam Frost film scenes for Home and Away.

Frost was beloved by Home and Away fans from 2017 until 2022. She was nominated for a Most Popular New Talent Logie Award in 2018.

It was her acting debut: she had previously risen to TV fame as a contestant on The Bachelor and star of The Bachelorette.

The soon-to-be-mother for a second time spoke of her mental health journey on the podcast in the hope of helping others.

She wants people to know there is light through the pain, which is the basis of her book, Believe, and the Believe by Sam Frost foundation she started with her sister.

“Mental illness is hard, it is ugly, it is uncomfortable,” she said.

Home and away cast, from left, Emily Symons, Sophie Dillman, Jackson Heywood, Jake Ryan, Kestie Morasi and Sam Frost. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“It is like a rollercoaster, sometimes it just sneaks up on you and then all of a sudden you are buried in this hole and you are like, ‘I don’t know how to get out of this again’. And when you are in that hole, you don’t feel like it is ever going to be okay again.

“I think that is why I am so passionate about talking about mental health issues and illness because I want people to know it does get better and there is hope and there is light even though it doesn’t feel like it, I know that feeling very well.”

It was “really hard to pull myself through that” low point in her personal life while working on Home and Away.

“I think one of the things that people don’t understand is that you feel like you are a burden, you feel like everyone else around you would be better off if you are not here,” she said.

“One of the things I really want to reiterate is … it does pass and I cannot stress that enough.”

Another very challenging time came in 2017 when Frost co-hosted the high profile breakfast shift on 2Day FM with Rove McManus. The show was axed after its first year.

Flashback: Bachelor Sam Wood, right, with 2016 Bachelorette Sam Frost, right. Picture: Supplied.

Radio with Rove: Rove McManus and Sam Frost were axed from their 2DAY FM breakfast radio show in 2017 after poor ratings. Picture: Supplied

“If anything, all of that criticism and all of that noise, it was validating to my insecurities,” she said.

“I was going, ‘yeah, well I think that way about myself too’. That only fed into this negative loop and the same thing happened when I went on Home and Away. They were like, ‘she’s not an actor’. And I was like, ‘yeah I know’.”

She added: “I have always felt like I wasn’t good enough. I felt like I wasn’t worthy of those opportunities, I don’t know why they offered them to me. I didn’t see what I could give them either so when they are feeding that information back to me, I was like, ‘yeah I know but I am going to try, that is all I can do’.

“Especially when the radio show got axed after 12 months, that killed because I was like, ‘damn, I really wanted this to be successful, I wanted to prove to people that I was capable of doing this job’.

“Instead, people were like, ‘we told you it wasn’t going to last and she wasn’t very good’.”

Today, Frost is in a really good headspace.

She and partner Jordie Hansen, of Survivor fame, are parents to son, Ted, and their second is due over the coming weeks.

“Being in a secure, healthy, positive relationship has been a game changer for me and I wish I could say I did it all by myself but I think having a loving partner has been amazing,” she said.

Sam Frost appearing on the Mental As Anyone podcast.

“I used to think that chemistry was anxiety and I would feel a lot of anxiety in relationships and stress and it was awful when I realised I was just feeding this loop of toxic rubbish. And then you meet someone who truly does love you so much and provides such a safe home and a secure relationship … it is amazing.

“And then being a mum, it puts things into perspective for sure because you just think, ‘I’ve got to be the healthiest I can be for my son and that is the most important thing.”

Do you need help? Lifeline: 131144; Beyond Blue: 1300224636; Kids Helpline: 1800551800

* A new episode of Mental As Anyone drops each Tuesday morning.