Since appearing on our screens on the second season of The Bachelor in 2014 and going on to star in Australia’s first season of The Bachelorette in 2015, Sam Frost’s personal heartbreak and experiences with anxiety and depression have played out for the world to see.
Sam disclosed on Instagram in February that she had left her “dream job” on Home & Away, where she had played Jasmine Delaney for almost five years, to “look after [her] mental health” and “make up for lost time” in relationships she had grown distant from.
Sam’s decision to focus on mental health and wellbeing may appear to some as a new priority, or even a necessary pivot after being chastised for her previous stance on the COVID vaccine, but it’s a subject that’s been important to her since infancy, as she told Hope 103.2’s UNDISTRACTED podcast.
“When I was younger, especially during my teenage years, there were no dialogues about mental health,” Sam added.
“I grew up believing there was something wrong with my brain, something wrong with me.”
“I could tell I was different because I was always depressed, furious, and in a lot of pain.”
“I just thought that I would just live my life messed up.
“I later realised, what I was struggling with was anxiety and depression, and it’s actually quite common,” she said.
Sam’s depression peaked at the height of her Home & Away career.
“I was working in my ideal career, doing something I was passionate about and that I loved, yet on weekends I would stay at home and cry in a dark place,” she explained.
“I realised I wasn’t living my life, and it was causing me to fall behind.”
“That’s when I decided to go to a wellness retreat at the beginning of last year,” she explained, “because I realised I couldn’t continue my life drowning in this despair.”
Sam has teamed up with her sister Kristine – a certified youth mentor – in her new memoir Believe to provide insights into what she’s learnt from her own life’s problems, including mental illness, physical concerns, and toxic relationships.
“I don’t profess to have all the answers,” she said, “but I can share some of the obstacles I’ve faced.”
The book is an outgrowth of the sisters’ online Believe community, which was created in 2020 and encourages people to talk openly about mental health, include everyone, and appreciate imperfection.
Sam wants to convey with Believe participants that our difficult times can really be seasons where we can find deeper significance in life — a perspective she’s worked hard to cultivate personally.
“I tell myself, ‘There will be a beauty in all of this.’ “There will be a purpose, as well as opportunities for growth and lessons,” Sam explained.
“When you think of it like that, then it sets you free, because you surrender to the experience and [ask] ‘What am I learning?’.”
Sam’s “connection to faith” has “a huge thing” to do with her ability to navigate the turmoil of life.
“I have to have faith that this is what’s supposed to be happening, and [that] there’s something higher looking out for me, I have to trust in that,” Sam said.
“When I lose faith and hope, and I lose my light, that’s when I switch back into victim mentality.”
Sam’s memoir Believe is out now.
Listen to the full episode of UNDISTRACTED with guest Sam Frost in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
