Whose Line Is It Anyway comedian Tony Slattery speaks of his battle with bipolar disorder

‘You wake up and, if you’re alive, cool’: Whose Line Is It Anyway comedian Tony Slattery, 59, talks of his battle to ‘survive’ as he opens up about his bipolar disorder and £4,000-a-week cocaine addiction

  • Comedian Tony Slattery has spoken of his daily battle with bipolar disorder 
  • His rise to stardom was marred by drug, alcohol and mental health issues
  • The Whose Line Is It Anyway star once spent £4,000-a-week cocaine addiction

Whose Line Is It Anyway star Tony Slattery has spoken of how he suffers from bipolar disorder and his battle to ‘survive’.

At the height of his fame in the 80s and 90s, Tony was a star of the Channel 4 improvisation show and one of the top stand-up comedians in the UK.

But his meteoric rise to stardom was  blighted with mental health issues and an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Whose Line is It Anyway star Tony Slattery has spoken of his daily battle with bipolar disorder. He is pictured as he looks today

Tony is currently on tour, in which he is revisiting his glory in the 80s and 90s with the help of a fan called Allan Lear who is one of his best friends. Tony is pictured as he looks today

Tony is currently on tour, in which he is revisiting his glory in the 80s and 90s with the help of a fan called Allan Lear who is one of his best friends. Tony is pictured as he looks today

In the 1990s when he was hugely popular comedian famous for his one liners his 10g of cocaine a day cost him £4,000 a week. 

Today the years of drugs, alcohol and depression has taken its toll.

His once slick black hair is grey and he lives in a rented home in Edgware, North London, having not decided to buy a home when he could afford to.

Although he still has a glint in his eye his words rush out and in between sentences there are long pauses.

He told The Mirror:  ‘You wake up and, if you’re alive, cool – go from there if you can.’

‘I could write you a book on bipolarity.

‘It’s one of those hidden things, it’s complicated. That’s not to say, ‘Oh god, aren’t I special’. So many people have it – the spectrum is enormous.

He said it is hugely important to talk about bipolar disorder. 

‘But it hugely helps to talk about it – to get it out, discuss it.’ 

He says his plans when he turns 60 later this year is to ‘survive.’ 

In 2005 he recalled he was given stern advice by comedy legend Julie Walters on the set of movie Ahead of the Class.

She said she sat him down and said:  ‘I think your’e a good actor but there is a sadness inside of you’, and that ‘he smelt a bit of vodka and should take it easy’. 

At the height of his fame in the 80s and 90s, Tony was a star of the Channel 4 improvisation show and one of the top stand-up comedian.

At the height of his fame in the 80s and 90s, Tony was a star of the Channel 4 improvisation show and one of the top stand-up comedian.

 Tony was invited to be in a do documentary The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, by fellow bipolar sufferer Stephen Fry.

He said that Stephen has been ‘hugely supportive’ and an ‘inspiration’ to him. 

 He told of a conversation he had with a psychiatrist who he said told him after an hour of examination: ‘the thing is Tony, you’re mad’.

 The comedian says he backs a campaign by The Sunday Mirror to end the stigma around mental health.  

He said ‘there used to be a huge stigma’. adding he gets annoyed when ‘people talk about happy pills’ because they ‘don’t exist’. 

The comedian says he backs a campaign by The Sunday Mirror to end the stigma around mental health. He is pictured with fellow Whose Line Is It Anyway stars in his heyday

The comedian says he backs a campaign by The Sunday Mirror to end the stigma around mental health. He is pictured with fellow Whose Line Is It Anyway stars in his heyday

Tony's rise to stardom was blighted with mental health issues and addiction to drugs and alcohol. He is pictured in his heyday

Tony’s rise to stardom was blighted with mental health issues and addiction to drugs and alcohol. He is pictured in his heyday

Tony lives with his partner Mark Michael Hutchinson who he has been with for 32 years.

He said with tears in his eyes Mark is his rock who is ‘hugely supportive’ and ‘authentic’.

He added Mark ‘means everything to me’.

Tony is currently on tour, in which he is revisiting his glory in the 80s and 90s with the help of a fan called Allan Lear who is one of his best friends. 

The tour which is made up of gigs, a mix of interviews and improvisation, arose  after Allan wrote to Tony two years ago asking him to send a 40th birthday card to his wife Erica Lear, who is a huge fan. 

Tony said Erica and Allan had ‘given him a new enthusiasm for life’. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk