Stephen Fry felt "undesirable" when he first arrived on the London gay scene in the 1980s.
The 62-year-old actor and comedian – who tied the knot with Elliott Spencer, 32, in 2015 – has admitted that he struggled to adapt when he first moved from Norfolk to London and started going to dance clubs and gay bars, where people judged others solely on appearance.
Speaking on the ‘Homo Sapiens’ podcast, he explained: "We’d go to Heaven and various other gay clubs and a sweet gay bar in Chelsea, The Queen’s Head. And I didn’t mind the little old pub but the look up and down sweeping eyes as you walk into a club and, in my case, the look up and down and the quick turn away. I’m such an undesirable person. I’m as far from cute as it’s possible to be.
"Not that I particularly wanted to be but it was just… also I just don’t like dance places, I just like talking."
Stephen also revealed that his arrival in London was at the same time as the HIV and AIDS epidemic began to take root in the capital, which affected his perception of the city.
He said: "I always hated what was called ‘the scene’ when I arrived in London – I arrived in London at a bad time for any gay person to arrive, in 1981, it was exactly the same time as the HIV virus.
"I remember hearing about GRID – gay related immune deficiency and bathhouse flu and all kinds of other strange words."
Stephen – who has been open about his mental health issues in the past – opened up to ‘Home Sapiens’ co-hosts Chris Sweeney and Alan Cumming about feeling lonely in the 1990s despite his career success.
He said: "It wasn’t until I had the awful experience in the mid-90s when I was in a play and I walked out, this was when I had to start examining my mind and what was going on with me and why it was going wrong and why I was unhappy when I was at the top of the game that I had set myself.
"I had achieved things I never dreamed I would – everything should’ve been wonderful, every light was green and yet I was in such a state of terrible misery and distress.
"Weirdly it was almost the exact same time that I was cast in the film to play ‘Oscar Wilde’ that I met my first boyfriend since the one at Cambridge."
"I think (during that time) I saw one of the things I was unhappy about was that I was lonely, I really was."
Stephen Fry felt ‘undesirable’ on the London gay scene
