Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

British actor and writer Stephen Fry says he attempted suicide last year while filming abroad.

In an interview recorded with comic Richard Herring, Fry said he took " a huge number of pills" and vodka and was found unconscious by his producer in his hotel room.

"It was a close-run thing," he said. "Fortunately, the producer I was filming with at the time came into the hotel room and I was found in a sort of unconscious state and taken back to England and looked after."

In the podcast interview, parts of which were available on the BBC website Wednesday, Fry said the suicide attempt made his body convulse so much that he broke four ribs. He did not give more details, but tweeted Wednesday he is "now fine."

Fry, who suffers from bipolar disorder, said in the interview that as president of a mental health charity he wants to be open about his problems.

Addressing the issue of suicide, he added: "There is no 'why', it's not the right question. There's no reason. If there were a reason for it, you could reason someone out of it, and you could tell them why they shouldn't take their own life."

In a BBC documentary, he recounted attempting suicide in 1995 after quitting a West End play.