Stephen Fry

[acquiesce]

Here's the article from earlier today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/jun/05/stephen-fry-attempted-suicide-bipolar?INTCMP=SRCH

Stephen Fry has revealed that he attempted suicide last year but was saved by his producer, who found him unconscious in a hotel room.

The actor, writer and presenter, who suffers from bipolar disorder, has previously spoken of earlier suicide attempts, including the first when he was 17, but told an audience in London on Monday night that he had never spoken about the latest incident, which occurred when he was filming abroad.

Fry, who is president of the mental health charity Mind, said: "I am the victim of my own moods, more than most people are perhaps, in as much as I have a condition which requires me to take medication so that I don't get either too hyper or too depressed to the point of suicide.

"I would go as far as to tell you that I attempted it last year, so I'm not always happy – this is the first time I've said this in public, but I might as well. I'm president of Mind, and the whole point in my role, as I see it, is not to be shy and to be forthcoming about the morbidity and genuine nature of the likelihood of death amongst people with certain mood disorders."

In conversation with fellow comedian Richard Herring, recorded before a live audience at the Leicester Square Theatre, Fry elaborated that his latest suicide attempt had been "a close-run thing".

"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," he said in the chat, which was transcribed on the British Comedy Guide website.

Addressing the issue of suicide, he said: "There is no 'why', it's not the right question. There's no reason. If there were a reason for it, you could reason someone out of it, and you could tell them why they shouldn't take their own life."

The QI host also tried to convey the symptoms of the disorder to non-sufferers and how difficult it could be to cope with them.

"If unmedicated, there are times when I am so exuberant, so hyper, that I can go three or four nights without sleeping and I'm writing and I'm doing stuff and I'm so grandiose and so full of self-belief that it's almost impossible to deal with me. I can't stop speaking, I'm incredible, I go on shopping sprees."

But this could be followed by depressive episodes. He said: "There are times when I'm doing QI and I'm going, 'Ha ha, yeah, yeah,' and inside I'm going 'I want to fucking die. I … want … to … fucking … die.'"

But he joked that he was fortunate not to experience one of the other symptoms of mania – sexual exhibitionism.

Bipolar disorder affects about 1-2% of the population, with the onset usually occurring in their 20s or 30s, according to Mind. It can be controlled by medication, especially lithium and anticonvulsants.

Fry attempted suicide after walking out of the West End play Cell Mates in 1995 – an event he recounted in a documentary for BBC2 called The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive.

 

[johnny on the spot]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

A sad post. I earn buttons and don't drive a London cab around. I get the bus and go to work like most other people. People are sick and that's a reality.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

 

[BlueTG]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

Do your research into his illness before you make such a narrow minded, stupid comment.

 

[m7mcfc]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

So you read the Sun then.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

So you read the Sun then.

Occasionally I read it if my gardener or cleaner leaves their copy lying around.

 

[Trollsmoan]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

This is what i mean.

These are what you call arseholes and general fucking idiots, but alas the world is sadly full of em but doubly sad when it's fellow blues and also earning minimum wage he only pays tax on anything over 9K? so he's actually paying 20% on 3K? and as if money has anything to do with the condition in a lot of cases but again just a tool.

 

[johnny on the spot]

Half decent gardeners don't read The Sun.

 

[BlueTG]

Half decent gardeners don't read The Sun.

It's his uphill gardener

just messing ;)

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Half decent gardeners don't read The Sun.

Tell me about it.

 

[m7mcfc]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

This is what i mean.

These are what you call arseholes and general fucking idiots, but alas the world is sadly full of em but doubly sad when it's fellow blues and also earning minimum wage he only pays tax on anything over 9K? so he's actually paying 20% on 3K? and as if money has anything to do with the condition in a lot of cases but again just a tool.

Not when your self employed. I get anything back April/May 2014.

 

[RandomJ]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

Shut up you absolute idiot. You have never had real depression so of course you don't understand it. Makes me so angry people dismissing depression by saying they have it tougher than the person and that they aren't depressed. It's a imbalance of chemicals in the brain and it can happen to anyone be they rich as fuck or living in the streets. If you ever had to deal with it (like I have) you'd understand how awful it is. Everyday is a struggle and no matter what you do you just can't escape it. So don't try belittling a very serious illness because I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

 

[johnny on the spot]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

In any case, talk about a sob story.

 

[sweynforkbeard]

So you read the Sun then.

Occasionally I read it if my gardener or cleaner leaves their copy lying around.

Quite shocking. If I catch my staff reading anything other than Empire News, the Swindon General Hospital Nurses Uniform Catalogue 1937 or the ingredients list from a Morrisons Stuffed Crust Meat Feast Pizza I dock their wages or flay them alive and deliver their belongings to a greyhound rescue charity shop depending on my mood.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

So you read the Sun then.

Occasionally I read it if my gardener or cleaner leaves their copy lying around.

Quite shocking. If I catch my staff reading anything other than Empire News, the Swindon General Hospital Nurses Uniform Catalogue 1937 or the ingredients list from a Morrisons Stuffed Crust Meat Feast Pizza I dock their wages or flay them alive and deliver their belongings to a greyhound rescue charity shop depending on my mood.

Spare the rod; spoil the domestics, is what I always say sweyn.

 

[dronefromsector7g]

FFS I worked for £6,19 an hour last week payed 20% tax, plus NI. My heart fookin bleeds. I only did it as I have 3 young lads that I have to provide for. I couldn't even contemplate suicide as I have to look after the boys....cnuts like this with there sob storys make me sick.

Shut up you absolute idiot. You have never had real depression so of course you don't understand it. Makes me so angry people dismissing depression by saying they have it tougher than the person and that they aren't depressed. It's a imbalance of chemicals in the brain and it can happen to anyone be they rich as fuck or living in the streets. If you ever had to deal with it (like I have) you'd understand how awful it is. Everyday is a struggle and no matter what you do you just can't escape it. So don't try belittling a very serious illness because I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

This. I'm surprised he didn't wheel out the usual 'pull yourself together' and 'there's starving kids in Africa, they don't kill themselves' bollocks.

 

[m7mcfc]

As always .....class SFKB.

 

[SWP's back]

This is what i mean.

These are what you call arseholes and general fucking idiots, but alas the world is sadly full of em but doubly sad when it's fellow blues and also earning minimum wage he only pays tax on anything over 9K? so he's actually paying 20% on 3K? and as if money has anything to do with the condition in a lot of cases but again just a tool.

Not when your self employed. I get anything back April/May 2014.

What do you not get when self employed?

 

[andyhinch]

Money has got fuck all to do with happiness, I was probably the most depressed when I was earning the most money, I'm not working now and loving it.

 

[BlueTG]

These are what you call arseholes and general fucking idiots, but alas the world is sadly full of em but doubly sad when it's fellow blues and also earning minimum wage he only pays tax on anything over 9K? so he's actually paying 20% on 3K? and as if money has anything to do with the condition in a lot of cases but again just a tool.

Not when your self employed. I get anything back April/May 2014.

What do you not get when self employed?

Irony