'Worst illness of my life': Ricky Gervais convinced he was dying after bout of vomiting and diarrhoea

Ricky Gervais became convinced he was dying of everything from cancers to radiation and cyanide poisoning during his recent bout of agonising stomach illness. 

The After Life creator, 61, who has admitted to fans he's a hypochondriac, was stricken earlier this month by vomiting and diarrhoea in the middle of the night that was so severe he told fans in a tweet on May 12 he had been hit by the "worst illness of my life". 

Graphically detailing the sickness in an online chat with fans, a fully recovered Ricky has now said: "What happened was, it was Wednesday night, about 1am, and I had a pain in my side that woke me up - like a shooting pain. It was like 'Ah - that never happens.' 

"It was like, 'Ooh, what was that?' Then it happened again. My first thought was obviously liver cancer, right? 

"And in the middle of the night, you're convinced - that it is, I've blown it, you know? 

"I got another pain, and it was like, 'Oh, oh God.' And I felt sick and went to throw up and couldn't. So I thought, 'Oh, maybe it's stomach cancer.' 

"And then I couldn't be sick - there was nothing there. Then the pain of the vomiting was incredible, there was an intensity." 

Ricky, who lives in his £10.8 million (S$18 million) north London mansion with his long-term writer partner Jane Fallon, 62, and their cat Pickle, added about suffering vomiting and diarrhoea so bad he then thought he was suffering from Covid or a form of radiation sickness.

Describing his symptom of vomiting as being "f*****g awful", Ricky also said that he thought he was "going to die" from choking because he couldn't get his breath back between each spasm.

"The next day, when I coughed, my ribs hurt - I thought, 'Oh, I've ripped my stomach lining here.'

"All this is happening in my head. That happened a few times, and I started sweating - cold sweating. And I thought, 'What is this?' Then I thought, 'Ah - coronavirus.' I've had it before. 

"I caught it off one of my nieces, or great nieces, one Christmas. Everyone was ill… That didn't stop me thinking at one point it might have been radiation sickness. 

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"I just thought, 'Well, it could be - you never know'. Someone might have been walking behind me with a bit of plutonium."

After a few hours, Ricky became convinced it was Covid-19, so he began thinking of fighting it. Then, the diarrhoea began, which was actually a "relief" for him.

"Because I'd rather it came out that way instead of my face, you know what I mean?" 

Ricky then joked he thought he was suffering cyanide poisoning, adding: "I knew cyanide poisoning causes reverse peristalsis, from the bowel, so you are vomiting your own s***. So I thought it was cyanide!" 

Ricky said he recovered by around 8pm the night the illness struck, and joked he then felt fit enough to "face a beer".