Stephen Fry believes the music of Beethoven saved him from the brink of suicide… and that the composer ‘brought colour back’ to his life after he was ‘lit by the flame of mania’
Stephen Fry has admitted the musician Ludwig van Beethoven saved him from suicide.
The TV and film actor, 62, has been open about his struggles with mental health over the years – including that he tried to take his own life in 2012.
But speaking on podcast The Art Of Change: Nothing Concrete, Stephen revealed: ‘There is a healing quality to [Beethoven’s music] that helps… when combined with not drinking too much and walking and eating properly and the other things that supposedly help one’s mental health.
Back from the brink: Stephen Fry has admitted the musician Ludwig van Beethoven saved him from suicide
‘One of the ways I cope with it is to bathe myself in music like Beethoven’s and to think of people who have gone before me who have been lit by the flame of mania and danced by the icy water of depression.’
Stephen has bipolar disorder, and further explained feeling suicidal by adding: ‘Inside you do not see the point of anything. Nothing has flavour or savour. Nothing has any meaning. Everything is just hopeless.
‘There’s no future. There’s no sense of anything ahead of you. You have to hope something will stop you. In my case it was just failed attempts and waking up in a hospital…’
Genuis: German Beethoven lived from 1770-1827 ; his music is amongst the most performed of the classical repertoire, and he is one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music
![A terrible time: The TV and film actor, 62, has been open about his struggles with mental health over the years - including that he tried to take his own life in 2012 [he is pictured that year in May]](https://i2.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/05/14/00/28365962-8317601-image-m-18_1589413172610.jpg?resize=306%2C498&ssl=1)
A terrible time: The TV and film actor, 62, has been open about his struggles with mental health over the years – including that he tried to take his own life in 2012 [he is pictured that year, left, in May and, right, in October, having suffered with bipolar disorder in between]
‘It’s in the recovery, it’s when you suddenly find that flavour – suddenly life is colour again.
‘Beethoven is a perfect example of someone who brings that colour back to you quicker than almost anything else, and it’s a sign.’
Stephen has been vocal in the past about his struggles with mental health, admitting his ‘relentless’ battle with bipolar disorder is ‘incurable’.
Speaking in a BBC documentary, Stephen explained he had been diagnosed with psychothermia – which causes mood swings leading to disturbed behaviour – when he first started seeing the psychiatrist following his suicide attempt in Uganda eight years ago.
Up with the times: The monument of Beethoven wears a protective face mask during the coronavirus crisis on April 27 in Bonn, Germany. Due to the virus restrictions, the 250th Beethoven anniversary year will be extended and celebrated into 2021
Stephen said: ‘Beethoven is a perfect example of someone who brings that colour back to you quicker than almost anything else, and it’s a sign’
His disorder can cause manic episodes of elevated high energy as well as periods of depression.
The comic and thespian has also openly discussed his prostate cancer recovery, having been diagnosed with the disease at the end of 2017.
He underwent an operation to have his prostate removed last year.
‘I’ve had the prostate out, fortunately things are good. You have to keep checking these things though,’ he said on an episode of The Morning earlier this year. ‘It’s great that men of a certain age are speaking about it and going to the doctor
‘People should understand that it’s a very common cancer for men.’