Hobbit star Stephen Fry has admitted he tried to commit suicide last year.
According to the Daily Mail, the 55-year-old actor, who has a history of bipolar disorder and depression, took a cocktail of pills and vodka last year in an attempt to end his life.
He was only saved when a producer found him unconscious in his hotel room.
In an interview for Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Fry said it was the first time he had spoken of it in public, “but I might as well…”
“‘I would go as far as to tell you that I attempted it last year, so that I’m not always happy.
Previously he had spoken about his struggle with bipolar disorder and how he feared he may attempt suicide.
The interview was part of British comedian Herring’s series of podcasts for the British Comedy Guide website.
It was conducted in front of a live audience on Monday (local time).
“And, um, it was a close-run thing. I took a huge number of pills with a large amount of vodka and the mixture of them made my body convulse so much that I broke four ribs, but I was still unconscious,” he said.
“And, fortunately, the producer I was filming with at the time came into the hotel room and I was found in a sort of unconscious state and taken back to England and looked after.”
Fry did not reveal where it happened or the programme or movie he was filming at the time.
He is president of a mental health foundation called Mind, and felt that he had to lead by example in talking about his own experiences with depression.
“…the whole point is in my role as I see it is not to be shy and forthcoming about the morbidity and genuine nature of the likelihood of death amongst people with certain mood disorders if they don’t look after it, if they think they can do without their medication or without the regular visits to a doctor, without taking care of themselves.”
In a 2011 interview Fry revealed he found the demands of fame “exhausting” – and feared he may one day kill himself.
“The fact that I am lucky enough not to have it so seriously doesn’t mean I won’t one day kill myself – I may well,” he said.
Fry came close to committing suicide in 1995 after his West End play Cell Mates had received poor reviews.
He fled Britain by ferry and was missing for a week before he was found in Belgium.
Before Fry was found it was feared he was dead. He later revealed that he came close to gassing himself before he eventually left for Belgium.
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“But I had this image of my parents staring right in at me… so I decided not to do it”.
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