Sam Frost has opened up about the “awful year” that led to her Home and Away departure in December 2021.
She also made rare comments about the controversial video she posted in October 2021 in which she described her hesitation over the COVID jab and her mental health.
Frost reflects that she struggled with her mental health at the time, which then led to her permanent departure from her role of Jasmine Delaney on the Channel 7 soap.
“That was an awful year. I had a lot of stuff happening in my family life, and a lot of things happening in my private life,” she said on the Life Uncut podcast.
“It was a really yucky time. I don’t think anyone was OK during COVID,” Frost said.
“When I did the video about that, if you actually watch the video, it was all about mental health and it was about me saying ‘no one is OK right now’ and whatever you think about these vaccines, everyone is struggling and you need to be compassionate and have empathy towards people who may think differently towards you.
“The whole thing got twisted and taken out of context, and got far messier and uglier than what it was meant to be.”
She said the situation got so bad she determined she needed to be home with her family.
“That’s when I made the decision to leave Home and Away,” she explained.
In the video shared to Instagram at the time, Frost told her followers: “I was really hesitant about doing a video or even speaking up about this sort of thing, but I feel like it’s getting to a point now in the world where there’s a lot of segregation.
“There’s a lot of harsh judgement and opinions being thrown around a lot and it’s taking its toll on my mental health, for sure, and I know people around me are struggling — particularly if they’re on the side that they don’t want to get vaccinated, for whatever reason.
“There are lots of different reasons why people aren’t getting vaccinated and it might be because of their medical history, their concerns, they might have family history, it could be religious reasons.”
Frost then revealed that she had not yet been vaccinated, clarifying there were a “few reasons” why she had not received the jab.
Following intense backlash, Frost quit Home and Away two months later.
“We support and respect Sam’s decision to leave Home and Away,” a Seven spokesperson said at the time.
“Sam leaves with our sincere thanks and very best wishes for the future.”
Frost has previously spoken out about the “bullying” she experienced after the video was posted.
“The bullying of unvaccinated people was disgusting. Friends I’d had for years stopped talking to me,’ she told Stellar Magazine.
“I never said I didn’t want to get it. I’m not an anti-vaxxer — are you kidding me?
“But I feel it’s quite unreasonable to assume that everyone’s going to think exactly the same way and that people are going to come to the exact same conclusion in the same time frame.
“I got torn to f****** pieces. That was someone in a very vulnerable position talking about their struggles with mental health.”