Stephen Fry Talks Attempted Suicide After Interviewing Anti-Gay Ugandan Politician

As part of his 2013 documentary, Stephen Fry: Out There, British comedian Stephen Fry traveled around the world to explore the lives of LGBT people. Taking advantage of his fame, he was able to secure a number of high profile meetings, including one with Uganda’s Minister for Ethics and Integrity, Simon Lokodo, who lead the the efforts behind the country's notorious "Kill the Gays" bill. It was a tense encounter—Fry described him as a "foaming frothing homophobe of the worst kind"—and one he admits really affected him. 

In an upcoming BBC show, The Not So Secret Life of a Manic Depressive: 10 Years On, a follow-up to the 2006 show, The Not So Secret Life of a Manic Depressive, Fry details how dwelling on the confrontation later in his hotel room led him to attempt suicide. 

"I knew I had a bottle of vodka in my room and a whole sponge bag full of Ambien. I paced around trying to analyze what it was that disappeared from me and it seemed that the whole essence of me had disappeared."

"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.'"

He also reveals that his psychiatrist thought of having him committed upon his return to the United Kingdom. 

The Not So Secret Life of a Manic Depressive: 10 Years On airs on BBC One on February 15. 

Photo via Wikipedia