Stephen Fry attempted suicide after interviewing ‘frothing’ homophobic politician
The star opened up about the incident during his upcoming documentary exploring mental health.
Stephen Fry has discussed attempting suicide after interviewing a ‘frothing’ homophobic Ugandan politician.
The openly gay presenter nearly overdosed on sleeping pills and alcohol while filming BBC documentary Stephen Fry – Out There – following a heated confrontation with Uganda’s minister for ethics and integrity, Simon Lokodo.
During the exchange, Lokodo told the presenter that gay sex was “worse than child rape”.
Fry received an outpouring of support on Twitter when he first revealed the incident had led him to attempt suicide in 2013 – something he discusses in further detail in upcoming BBC show The Not So Secret Life of a Manic Depressive: 10 Years On.
“I can recall interviewing a Ugandan minister who was a foaming, frothing homophobe of the worst kind,” he says.
“It was a very passionate interview and I was very strong in my opinions.
“I knew I had a bottle of vodka in my room and a whole sponge bag full of Ambien.
“I paced around trying to analyse what it was that disappeared from me and it seemed that the whole essence of me had disappeared,” he explained.
“Everything that was me wasn’t there. Some feeling came over me that this was the end.
“I just carefully lined up I don’t know how many of those damn pills and drank all the vodka with them.
“The next thing I remember I was on the floor and an embarrassed member of the hotel is looking down at the carpet from the doorway, saying ‘you have just got to get him to a hospital.’”
The actor, comedian and TV host first opened up about his mental health issues a decade ago, in Emmy-winning documentary Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive.
He will revisit the documentary this month as part of the BBC’s mental health series.
The Not So Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive: 10 Years On will air on February 16, at 9 PM on BBC One.
