Stephen Fry discusses mental health and battle with bipolar disorder: 'I'm not going to kid myself that it's cured'
Fry was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 37
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Stephen Fry has spoken out about the struggles that he’s faced throughout his life dealing with mental health issues, stating: “I’m not going to kid myself that it’s cured.”
At the age of 37, the comedian, actor and writer was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Fry has become a major proponent for mental health awareness, exploring bipolar disorder in the 2006 two-part documentary Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive and being named president of mental health charity Mind in 2011.
Fry, now 60, has opened up about the way in which bipolar disorder affects his life while appearing on an episode of Fearne Cotton’s podcast Happy Place, which became available to listen to today.
“There was and still is, and I still feel it occasionally, a danger of becoming sort of professionally mentally unstable, and that’s what I am, that’s who I am,” he said.
“I’ve always viewed it’s not who I am. It’s a condition I live with.
“I’m always prepared to talk about it, but there’s also a danger, because I do live with this condition.
“I’m not going to kid myself that it’s cured because it isn’t, that if I keep picking at the scab, it’s not going to be good for me. It’s not going to be good for my mental health.”
Fry explained that his entourage are particularly attentive when it comes to his mental health, as they make sure that he takes a break whenever they can sense he’s in need of one.
“I’ll say, ‘Yes, I’ll do it’, because I think it’s my duty. They’ll say, ‘No, don’t. Don’t, or if you do, do it in a month’s time’,” he said.
In February, Fry shared a 13-minute video on social media revealing that he was recovering from prostate cancer.
He explained that he had undergone an operation in the first week of January in which 11 lymph nodes were removed.
He stated that the procedure “seemed to go pretty well”, adding: “So far as we know it’s all been got.”
Fry recently appeared in an appeal for Sport Relief in an effort to increase support for mental health projects.
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