At a party with comedian Ben Elton, Stephen Fry was “minutes away from suffering permanent brain damage” and even “death” after “whacking cocaine up his nose.”
Celebrity Traitors star Stephen Fry survived a “near-death experience” after a booze and coke binge, his close pal has revealed.
Comedian and telly writer Ben Elton has told how he rushed the actor to hospital in a cab because he was in “extreme danger”.
He claimed that doctors then informed him that Stephen, renowned for his intelligence, was “minutes away from permanent brain damage – and not many more minutes away from death.”
The revelation comes just after Stephen became one of the latest stars to leave Celebrity Traitors as he was voted out despite being Faithful.
Pals Stephen and Ben had been out for dinner in London before an afterparty together at the Islington home of late author Douglas Adams.
READ MORE: ‘I raced rock stars to see who could snort longest line of coke before my crash’
Stephen, who he affectionately calls “Bing,” was the creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at the time. Ben, 66, said: “You know it’s time to pull the pin, but you don’t, and you instead open a few more bottles.
“We were drinking beer, which Stephen very rarely did, and for some reason he had some weird organic Belgian stuff which he thought we should try. We were smoking fags pretty copiously as we did in those days and, on top of that, Stephen was whacking cocaine up his nose.
“I can say this because he’s been entirely forthright about it in his own memoir and, having admitted to doing it at Buck House, doing it with me is hardly a scandal. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of hard drugs.
“I used to drink beer with my beer while everyone else was using the restrooms while the Groucho was a member of the Groucho during the notorious days of the late 1980s.” I just thought everybody had a weak bladder. “
In his newest book, What Have I Done? Ben claimed that he was scheduled to call it a night and that he had been waiting for a taxi when he realized something was wrong with his partner.
He continued:” Had I decided to have another beer, Stephen almost certainly would have been dead in an hour because shortly after he’d called for the cab, he started to wheeze.
I recognized there was a problem as the wheezing turned into throaty gasping. Bing? Is this a serious matter? “Yes.”
” His head was rolling a bit and his breathing suddenly sounded alarmingly hollow. In a second, it happened. Would you like me to make an ambulance call? ‘ Yes.. ‘ He was beginning to slump in his chair. “
When Ben realized he didn’t know the address and that Stephen couldn’t breathe in his own way, he admitted to having to leave a 999 call. Thankfully, his taxi drove him home.
The cabbie then requested that they be taken to University College Hospital, adding that “it must have been at least two in the morning.”
Ben explained:” I got Stephen out of the cab and virtually dragged him up the steps to the front entrance. Because he was essentially a dead weight (literally), neither of us managed to gain strength. His breath sounded like a death knell, and I had no idea how he was able to breathe without any oxygen.
“At the top of the stairs, I found a wheelchair. I managed to get Stephen to the door and chair. Stephen was almost in the chair as he was slouched like a sack. His long legs were splayed out and I couldn’t get his feet onto the foot plates.
And I couldn’t move the chair without turning it around and dragging it backwards. Stephen yelled at me as I turned it in the corridor, and I blasted his head against the wall.
He didn’t seem to notice, but as I dragged the chair and Stephen into what appeared to be a reception, I felt utterly sick.
Ben claimed that the area was deserted at the time, so he yelled “I have an emergency,” which prompted a nurse to assist him. He continued: “She ran in, took one look at Stephen and called for help.
I was completely alone when a doctor came in and a minute later they had spirited him away. I can’t even recall having a seat there. I just stood there, wishing I hadn’t drunk so much because I knew I had to concentrate. “
Ben admitted in his autobiography that he felt the need to inform doctors that his friend had a habit of drinking coke. He said, “It had occurred to me that I had to tell them something. Urgently.
“Fortunately, the nurse reappeared with a doctor who told me that Stephen was in the emergency room. ‘Has he had much alcohol?’ the doctor asked. ‘Yes, a lot,’ I said, ‘and many cigarettes.’ I took a deep breath. ‘Also, I need to tell you that I think it’s possible – quite probable, in fact certain – that he has had cocaine.’
Have you any idea how difficult that was? Stephen was years and years away from his drug confessions in the early 1990s.
“Since those long-gone innocent days, he and Kate Moss and a host of other white-nostrilled celebrities have established a culture where talking to Jonathan Ross about how much illegal powder you’ve ingested is commonplace.
Spun properly, cocaine can even be used as the protagonist in a heroic battle with personal demons, which has helped to better understand the necessity of concentrating on mental health.
“But at the time, cocaine was a terrifyingly illegal Class A drug, and I was weeding out my former flame to a powerful figure.” I hated doing it but absolutely I felt I had to. I had no idea what was wrong with him or what drugs were being given to him.
Who was aware of the effects of one drug on another? The doctor nodded and made a note. ‘ I don’t bother myself, I weakly stated.
That sounded sopathetic, despite being true. It seemed to me that, at best, an entire hospital would now be telling all their friends that I did cocaine and, at worst, I was going to be spending a night in a police station while Stephen died and avoided all the unpleasantness.
I was concerned for Stephen, and I feigned that the police would come over and make an arrest.
Ben claimed that doctors later assured him that everything would work out, but that the incident had taken place in the Nineties. He added:” I was shown into the emergency room and he certainly didn’t look okay.
He appeared to have gray, translucent skin, no apparent life left in his eyes, and numerous tubes and wires had been attached to his entire body.
The doctor informed me that Stephen was just minutes away from suffering permanent brain damage.
“And not many more minutes away from death. Given the choice, I said that Stephen would have preferred the latter. So there you have it. I saved the most celebrated brain in showbiz.
The cerebral, throbbing hub of national treasure-dom has throbbed on my memory for the past three decades.
Ben also stated that he was “still very concerned” about staying with Stephen and that he wanted to tell him that he had shared his cocaine use with the doctor.
He said:” I imagined that the big ‘ coke ‘ word was all over Stephen’s notes and I felt he needed to know.
In 1992, Stephen taking cocaine would have been extremely significant, entirely unexpected, and probably devastating news to the public. Additionally, it might have led to his arrest and possibly even imprisonment.
” Stephen was pretty woozy and nodding off, but he was conscious enough to hear me. ‘ I whispered, “Bing, mate.” I apologize, but I let them know that you had been drinking coke. I felt I had to because they were medicating you. ‘
He squirted my hand and whispered that everything was alright. He continued, “Don’t worry,” between his gratingly longer breaths. I’ll be writing an entire book about it in 20 years. ‘”
Stephen and Ben and Richard Curtis have been friends for many years, and they both played the roles of Lord Melchett in the second and fourth series of Blackadder.
The 68-year-old was one of the top stars in hit BBC show Celebrity Traitors but exited the game in Thursday night’s episode.
He said afterwards: “It’s a word that’s overused as people give them as Christmas presents, but it really was an experience. A remarkable experience. And of course, it’s shaped by the rules of the game. No question, the structure of the rules of the game gives it its shape. And I was familiar with those from watching it, but it is formed more, in a way, by the nature of the group who are participating. That was just wonderful to get to know some extraordinary people I would probably otherwise never have met. And some people, of course, whom I knew, that made it very rich and interesting. Every day was astonishing.
Source: Mirror
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