Stephen Fry's heartbreaking battle with agonising chronic pain following horror fall

By Fran Winston, Showbiz Reporter

Stephen Fry shares health update after suffering a fall

Blackadder star Stephen Fry has opened up on his battle with chronic pain after he was injured falling from stage in the O2 arena while speaking at the CogX Festival last year. The 6ft tall actor needed constant physiotherapy following the accident and was on medication for the pain.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme he confessed he thought of his pain as "a friend" but added living with chronic pain "makes you afraid of basic movements".

"You almost call it a friend and say 'It's OK, I know why you're there' and you're not a failure on the part of evolution, or God, or whatever you want to call nature," he said.

"Are we wrong to believe that it's rather British to think that pain is something that should be endured?" he asked. He said people sometimes believe that "we should suffer if we have this injury, that it is the natural course".

The 67-year-old added he was now off medication and pain free.

Stephen Fry has opened up on his battle with chronic pain (Image: Getty)

The horror fall saw him break his leg, pelvis and several ribs and in December last year he acknowledged he was “very lucky” to be able to walk again after falling 6ft from the stage.

At the time he was undergoing treatment for his injuries with hydrotherapy and physiotherapy, and he credited strong painkillers for getting him back on his feet earlier than doctors expected.

“I’m feeling whole and healed thanks to good physiotherapy," he told Good Morning Britain.

“It was pretty nasty. I broke my leg in two places, my pelvis in four places and a bunch of ribs, so it was really quite serious.”

Stephen Fry had a serious fall from the stage in the O2 Arena last year (Image: Getty)

In the same chat the QI host also revealed he had taken a course of the controversial painkiller OxyContin, but stressed that it had been carefully prescribed.

“They [painkillers] mean the physio can get you on your feet earlier," he reasoned.

“Even though it was the dreaded OxyContin, which has cut a swathe through America in the opioid crisis, it was being dealt to me very properly and I was weaned off it so I didn’t get addicted."

“Because of the painkillers I was able to move earlier than I would otherwise have been able to.”