Stephen Fry reveals five stone weight loss following prostate cancer diagnosis
Stephen Fry has lost five-and-a-half stone since April following his battle with prostate cancer, but says that he is “very happy”.
Last year, the actor had his prostate removed after his diagnosis with the condition and urged “men of a certain age” to get tested for the disease. The actor is now cancer-free.
On Friday, the 61-year-old broadcaster appeared on BBC Breakfast and spoke of his improved mood and weight loss.
“At the moment I’m very happy, there is the vertical moment and the horizontal and at the moment I’m very happy, I’m happily married,” the QI presenter told presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt.
The actor revealed he is “feeling proud” after losing the weight. “I was 21 stone nearly, in April I was that heavy,” he added.
Speaking of his mental health, Fry said that he has found that walking improves his overall mood.
“It’s not a guaranteed help for mental stress and anxiety or anything else but it does help me and it means I can listen to audio books as I walk, and podcasts, and you eat up the miles that way, and talking of eating up, eating sensibly,” he continued.
The star, who married Elliott Spencer in 2015, said that he now feels “relieved” when he looks at himself in the mirror.
The NHS states that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. The chances of developing prostate cancer increase as you get older, with the majority of cases developing in men aged 50 or older.
Over the years, the Blackadder star has been open about his mental health struggles.
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 was named president of mental health charity Mind in 2011.
In his interview on the BBC, the star said that young people need to be mindful of stress and pressure.
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“We know about the epidemic of self-harm and unhappiness amongst the young how terrible it is, how upsetting it is and how distressing it is and it happens across all sections of society,” he added.
“It’s not just those that have a particularly hard home life or anything. Sometimes people in very happy families are deeply unhappy.
“There’s all kinds of reasons, social media, bullying and they’re talked about a lot.”
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