Stephen Fry says he was pulled back from the brink by Beethoven.
Comedy star Stephen, who tried to kill himself in 2012, has spoken about how his battle with depression has been eased by the composer’s music.
He said: “There is a healing quality to it 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.”
The 62-year-old, who has bipolar disorder, added: “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.”
Speaking in the Art of Change: Nothing Concrete podcast, he said of being suicidal: “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...
"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.”
German genius Beethoven died in 1827. His work includes the rousing Ode to Joy theme in his Ninth Symphony.
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