Stephen Fry opens up about time he disappeared for three days as he shares plea

Stephen Fry once went missing for three days while starring in a West End play as the pressure became too much. The actor vanished during a run of Cell Mates at London's Albery Theatre - and recalls only coming home because he realised how worried people were.

The 67-year-old, best known for his roles in Blackadder II and presenting quiz show QI, fled to Belgium in 1995. He shared the story in his documentary Stephen Fry: A Life on Screen and said: “My luck began to fizzle out. I just couldn’t take being in the play, or being in London. I saw rows of newspaper headlines, ‘Fears for Fry’ type thing.

"And I stared at it in complete disbelief. They all are worried that I’ve committed suicide. That’s the awful thing. I can’t believe I worried people so much. When you feel you can’t go on, it’s not just a phase, it is a reality. And I would have killed myself if I didn’t have the option of disappearing.”

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It wasn't the first time Stephen had disappeared, he also went missing during his teenage years. He told the Diary of A CEO podcast that he didn’t have an easy time growing up: “I was a disruptive, deeply difficult, screwed up child. Socially, I never fitted in, and felt fitted in, because I was bad at all the things that were valued as a child.

“It was at boarding school. I was sent away at the age of seven. My parents were on the east coast in Norfolk and I was sent to Gloucestershire on the west coast. To some people it sounds a bit cruel to send a child 200 miles away. But that was what happened, as far as I was concerned. My brother had gone, and everyone at that school was in the same situation.”

Stephen is now a patron of Missing People, a charity he said was close to his heart. He has recorded a video for the Mirror in support of the charity's Christmas appeal and said in the clip: “Will you be home for Christmas?

"Help us be there for those who aren’t. Some 170,000 people are reported missing each year in the UK - for them and their loved ones life can be lonely, scary and uncertain - I know this from my own experience. Right now people are searching for children, fearing for their safety, searching too for mums, dads, brothers, sisters and grandparents who suddenly feel very vulnerable. For them this Christmas will be tough.”

He said the charity needed donations and gifts people leave in their wills to keep going and added: “Please join me and donate today to help someone find support and safety, visit www.missingpeople.org.uk/mirror and give what you can. Your donation will help to answer helpline calls from missing children and from adults in crisis and to provide support workers and counselling to help families cope.”