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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Vanessa Thorpe Arts and media correspondent

Stephen Fry was given addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin after fall

Stephen Fry Claudia Winkleman NHS
Stephen Fry.
‘My doctor said: “I didn’t prescribe it for your sake. I prescribed it for the sake of the NHS'”’: Stephen Fry. Photograph: Lucy North/PA

Stephen Fry was given the controversial painkiller OxyContin to help him to move again during his recovery from a serious fall.

Now walking without a stick for the first time since the accident in September, Fry has revealed he was a reluctant user of the drug. He took it on the advice of his surgeon, after being warned that if he waited until the pain subsided his leg muscles would weaken.

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