Stephen Fry's friend has revealed how the comedian was left 'minutes from death' after 'whacking cocaine up his nose' at a boozy party in the early 90s. 

Black Adder co-writer Ben Elton recalled the scary aftermath as he was forced to rush Stephen to the hospital in the back of a black cab. 

Writing in his book, What Have I Done?, Ben explained how after attending a dinner in London the pair found themselves knocking back Belgian beers. 

He later noticed how Stephen had started to 'wheeze' after taking cocaine, which prompted him to rush his pal to A&E. 

In pages obtained by The Mirror, Ben recalled 'dragging' the presenter up the hospital steps before he informed medics he had taken the 'scarily illegal Class A drug.'

He wrote: 'He looked like a corpse – grey, translucent skin, seemingly no life left in his eyes, numerous tubes and wires attached to every part of him.'

Ben continued: 'His breath sounded like a death rattle and I couldn’t imagine he was getting any oxygen into his lungs at all.' 

'It was then that the doctor told me that Stephen had been minutes away from suffering permanent brain damage.' 

Daily Mail has contacted Stephen representative for comment. 

In 2023, Stephen has said getting hooked on sugar as a child as a result of his 'addictive impulse' was a gateway to an eventual cocaine addiction which he battled for more than a decade.

The beloved TV star said that after first indulging in sweets he eventually moved on to tobacco and then Class A drugs.

While appearing as a guest on John Cleese's GB News show Stephen said:  'When I was a teenager, I had this vast empty hole in me that said "Feed me, I need this sugar, I need it"'.

'When it wasn't sugar, it became tobacco, so I smoked and then in my twenties it became cocaine. I just couldn't sit still. It's that addictive impulse.'

As he opened up about a 15-year addiction to the Class A drug, in his 2014, autobiography, More Fool Me, Stephen even claimed he once took cocaine at Buckingham Palace as well as a whole host of other respected institutions. 

The list included the House of Lords, House of Commons and BBC Television Centre.

The presenter also revealed his brushes with the law and how he narrowly escaped drug charges after being stopped by police while in possession of cocaine.

The autobiography follows Stephen through the 1980s and 90s after he had found fame through shows such as A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster.

He recalled the ‘momentous night’ in 1986 when he first took cocaine with an unnamed actor friend and admits that he never saw himself as an addict as his dependency spiralled out of control.

He doesn’t detail the year he believed he became addicted or when he kicked the habit.

Stephen wrote: ‘How can I explain the extraordinary waste of time and money that went into my 15-year habit?

'Tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds, and as many hours, sniffing, snorting and tooting away time that could have been employed writing, performing, thinking, exercising, living.’

The actor, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was undiagnosed at the time and explained his simple motivations behind taking cocaine: ‘I didn’t take coke because I was depressed or under pressure.

'I didn’t take it because I was unhappy (at least I don’t think so). I took it because I really, really liked it.’