Alan Cumming reacts to Miriam Margolyes jock strap comment

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The star has had a mega successful career on both stage and screen, but some of his best known roles were within Loki, James Bond and Emma. Reflecting on his career earlier this year, the star revealed how he struggled with his mental health. The award-winning actor credited Hollywood for saving him, after he felt “suicidal” the very day that he auditioned for the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye.

Talking on CBS Mornings back in October Alan said: “It was one of the worst days of my life actually. I felt really, really, really low. I just now think, ‘Oh you poor little thing, you could’ve said I am feeling suicidal today.’

“That’s something I realised when I was writing, like, ‘Oh my God, Hollywood saved me.’”

Promoting his new memoir Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life Alan bravely opens up about his “darkest moments,” and how the role of Boris Grishenko changed his outlook on life.

Alan continued to say: “I have this sort of mantra, which is ‘cancel, continue.’ When something bad happens I think, ‘okay that happened, we can’t change that, let’s move on.’”

The latest memoir is a follow-up to his firsat in 2014, where Alan detailed the abuse that he suffered from his father at a young age.

Talking about the effect of this on his life as an older man, Alan said: “When I was 28, I suddenly remembered all this stuff from my childhood. It’s still with me, I still get triggered by things. And we all have baggage, we all have trauma.”

The star’s rocky relationship with his father, who died of cancer in late 2010 was already well known within the public eye, but within his autobiography the extent of the cruelty and abuse he suffered came to light.

Due to his treatment as a young man, Alan suffered a nervous breakdown in his late 20s. Talking to The Guardian, Alan said that he lived in fear, calling his father a tyrant.

Remarkably, the actor has gone on to achieve numerous great things with his life, and he says has always been confident in his sexuality – the one “positive thing” that he got from his father.

The impression he has made on the acting industry led to him receiving an honorary doctorate from his drama school, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Accepting the award at a small ceremony Alan said: “I feel very moved today on receiving this honorary doctorate.

“I came to study here 36 years ago and I felt like I belonged here from the word go. The spirit of this institution has made me the performer that I am today.

“Three years of training and developing technique is very special – the older I’ve got I realise how important this training has been and the confidence I gained here has stood me in such good stead.”

Mental health is crucially important for everyone. Although most individuals within their lifetime experience periods of bad mental health, for most this will not be long-term.

The Mayo Clinic describes the term “nervous breakdown” as a way to describe a stressful situation in which individuals are temporarily unable to function normally in their day-to-day lives.

Although not technically a medical term, a nervous breakdown does indicate that someone may be suffering with a mental health problem such as depression or anxiety.

Although signs and symptoms of a nervous breakdown differ for every individual, the Mayo Clinic continues to explain that generally, individuals may start to call in sick to work, avoid social situations, miss appointments and have trouble following health patterns of eating, sleeping and hygiene.

The NHS explains that symptoms of depression may include:

• Not getting any enjoyment out of life
• Feeling hopeless
• Not being able to concentrate on everyday things
• Having suicidal thoughts or thoughts about harming yourself.

If you or someone you know is experiencing any of the above symptoms, or struggling with mental health it is important to try and talk to someone.

Samaritans are available to contact on 116 123 or email on [email protected]. If you need more support, you can get free psychological therapies like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) on the NHS.

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