Ricky Gervais reveals the extent of health fears and why he never sees a doctor
Ricky Gervais has opened up about his worries about his health and the sometimes painful lengths he goes to avoid seeing a doctor.
The 63-year-old comedian, who is currently touring his new stand-up show Mortality, made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday (29 May) where he spoke jokingly about his health and his age.
“I’m reminded every day that I’m getting older,” he admitted. “Everything is just sort of slower and aches more. When I get up in the morning and I walk downstairs, it’s like I’ve got false legs. They are like stiff pirate legs. It just hurts.”
When asked by Kimmel whether he ever sees any experts about his ailments, Gervais said that he doesn’t “because that’s admin”.
Gervais then shared what he does when he thinks he’s discovered a problem with himself, which often involves consulting his long-term partner, the author and TV producer Jane Fallon.
“What happens is I wake up and I go ‘Oh I’ve got a lump or a pain’ and I go to Jane ‘What do you think that is?’ She goes ‘Go to the doctor’ and I go ‘What do you think it’s serious?’ She goes ‘No, I don’t know’.”
Gervais says that he then resorts to Googling his symptoms, which often involves him jumping to serious conclusions.
“So I Google whatever is and put in the symptoms and the first few are alright related to stress or diets. I go ‘Oh that’s great, that’s fine’ and I push my luck and number seven says cancer. I go ‘Jane, I’m dying’.”
Gervais did concede that he goes to see a doctor once every 10 years but only when he believes he has a “life threatening” issue. He also sometimes tries to resolve the situation by himself.
“I broke a tooth right after Christmas on a Kettle Chip and I just went ‘Oh for f***’s sake, what’s the chances of that?’” he said. “So we had to get an emergency dentist. If I had a drill I would have done it myself. I’ll do anything myself. If there is a pill or an ointment, I’ll try anything. I’ve never had a surgery.”
He then shared a particularly gruesome story about trying to remove a skin tag. “You know those skin tags? I had one on my eyelid so I cut it off with a pair of nail scissors,” he began.
“I was in pain and I was gnawing through it with these little scissors and it was bleeding. I came downstairs and Jane said ‘What did you do?’ I said ‘I cut it off’. She said in response: ‘Are you f***ing mad?’ You could get sepsis’ I just sort of got Savlon, the antiseptic cream, and put that everywhere.”
Gervais concluded the segment by sharing a story about visiting a doctor when he was a teenager. “I was sort of showing off because I studied biology and I said ‘Oh I’ve got a pain in my epidmus.’ So he went and had a look and said ‘Your jeans are too tight –they’re squeezing your balls.’ That’s what I want from a doctor!”
Although Gervais never said that he has health anxiety, the condition has started to be treated more seriously in recent years and was formally recognised by the American Psychiatric Association in 2013. It was then termed “illness anxiety disorder”.
Preliminary studies published in 2010 showed up to half of patients with health anxiety could be helped by nurses trained in cognitive therapy.
According to the NHS, if a GP diagnoses you with health anxiety, they may refer you for a talking therapy or offer you a medicine for anxiety. You can refer yourself directly to an NHS talking therapies service without a referral from a GP.
