Sam Frost reveals the real reason she left Home and Away as she reflects on ‘ugly and awful’ backlash over her infamous Covid vaccine video

Sam Frost has detailed the difficult period in her life that led to her leaving Home and Away.

The actress and former Bachelor star left the soap shortly after facing massive backlash over a controversial Instagram video in which she detailed her hesitancy to get the Covid-19 vaccine in late 2021.

The 35-year-old told the Life Uncut podcast this week that she struggled with her mental health during that period and ultimately decided to leave the show after that struggle.

‘That was a terrible year. A lot of things happened in my family life, and a lot of things happened in my private life. It was a really dirty time. I don’t think anyone was okay during COVID,” Sam said.

‘When I made 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 okay right now” and no matter what you think about these vaccines, everyone has it difficult and you have to be compassionate and have empathy for people who might think differently about you,” she continued.

“And the whole thing got twisted and taken out of context and became much messier and uglier than it was intended to be.”

Things reached a breaking point for the star, who ultimately decided she needed time with her family to recover.

“I finally thought ‘oh man, I need to go home and be with my family’ and that’s when I made the decision to leave Home and Away,” she said.

Sam quit Home and Away in December of that year and has done so before reflected on being “torn to pieces” as she compared restrictions on the unvaccinated to “segregation” in her tearful Instagram video.

‘That was a terrible year. A lot of things happened in my family life, and a lot of things happened in my private life. It was a really dirty time. I don’t think anyone was okay during COVID,” Sam said. Pictured on Home and Away

“The bullying of unvaccinated people was disgusting. Friends I had had for years stopped talking to me,” Sam told Stellar Magazine.

‘I never said I didn’t want it. I’m not an anti-vaxxer. Are you joking? But I think it’s quite unreasonable to assume that everyone is going to think exactly the same and that people are going to come to exactly the same conclusion within the same time frame.’

The former Bachelorette also revealed that she only had “good intentions.”

‘I was torn to pieces. That was someone in a very vulnerable position talking about their struggles with mental health,” she said.

Sam, who joined Home and Away in 2017 as Jasmine Delaney, quit the Channel Seven soap two months after revealing she had not had the vaccine.

Things reached a breaking point for the star, who ultimately decided she needed time with her family to recover

Seven Productions had a policy that required all cast and crew to be vaccinated against Covid; However, sources said Sam’s departure last year was not related to the mandate.

Sam filmed her final scenes for the soap in December 2021 at Eveleigh Studios in Sydney.

The actress caused a backlash in October that year when she revealed she had not had the Covid jab, and also compared restrictions on the unvaccinated to ‘segregation’.

She said in a tearful Instagram video, “I was really hesitant to make a video or even talk about this stuff, 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 judgments and opinions being spread and it’s definitely taking a toll on my mental health, and I know the people around me are having a hard time – especially if they’re on the side of not wanting to . get vaccinated, for whatever reason.

“I finally thought ‘oh man, I need to go home and be with my family’ and that’s when I made the decision to leave Home and Away,” she said

“There are lots of different reasons why people don’t get vaccinated and it could be because of their medical history, their concerns, it might be family history, it might be religious reasons.”

Sam then said she had not been vaccinated, but claimed she had spoken to both her doctor and a psychologist about her decision.

She added tearfully: ‘It’s a very difficult time to be in society right now and you feel like you’re less of a human being and people are judging you.

“And you’re too scared to talk about your opinions or your feelings and part of you wants to say, ‘Well, it’s none of your damn business why it’s not me!’ And there are good reasons why I’m not, and I don’t want you to judge me.”

After receiving criticism for her video, Sam deactivated her main Instagram account and blocked all comments on the account of her mental health charity Believe. She has since reactivated her accounts.

Channel Seven announced Sam’s departure from Home and Away later in December.

Her former co-star Lynne McGranger (right) told Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa that Sam had been fully vaccinated