Tony Slattery

[jacksonmaine]

To hope that Tony Slattery will be back on the TV again soon.

I didn’t mean to compare Sean and Tony - it’s just that they’re both of the same time, two of my favourites of the time who brought me so much laughter, faded out of sight and only cake back into my view with sad news.

I also think the shock at how tony looks is because with the likes of Stephen dry he’s never been off our screens, we have watched him age gradually so it’s not been jarring, while Tony I certainly last saw on a tv programme probably recorded 25 years ago so its quite a contrast. As no doubt it would be with me.

He still has the same compassionate look in his eyes though. He always struck me as kind, and yes manic but I did think that was part of the persona, naive as I was.

Tony if you are reading this (because I’d be googling after the article if it was me) hope you see how liked you are and that we all want you to take care of yourself.

Poor Tony. Immense but overwhelming talent. It was a very well written article, sympathetic to him. His partner must have reserves of love and strength not given to most of us, I doubt many would have supported him through so much. Good luck to them, I hope Tony's health improves.

The article about Sean is awful. Especially for someone who calls themselves a friend (which they were in the end). Bitter.

I encountered Sean Hughes in a queue a week or two before he died at a place where he was performing, although I wasn’t there to see him. I’d had a big crush on him in the 90s and hadn’t seen or heard of him in ages. He smiled at me, which was very pleasing, and was low key and polite to the box office. He didn’t look much different tbh.

TS’s hair has gone completely white/grey so that in itself is a huge contrast to how we remember him.

I read it and thought that if he didn’t have the amazing sounding partner he would be dead most likely by now

The article touched me too. I didn’t find it cruel at all. I sometimes think people who are too clever are quite troubled

Tony Slattery has been talking publically about his mental health issues for years and years. He was absolutely ubiquitous for a time then abruptly disappeared from our screens. He did interviews about his breakdown decades ago. Sadly he still seems to be in a very rocky place and coming off his medication seems to me to be questionable if not reckless. As a pp said, I'm not convinced that his partner staying with him is all positive either. What kind of a life can he have?

Yes I do wonder/worry about the partner’s mental health.

I also wonder if the reason he is no longer under psych services is because he excluded himself from them due to still drinking?

I hope he seeks help again, particularly after his revelation in the article. (Which I’m not going into out of respect as his confession seemed impulsive - and not because I don’t care about it.)

“Confession” is the right word.

If you google Tony Slattery + Miranda Sawyer you will find her Guardian interview with him from 2003 which makes particularly poignant reading in the light of this Hadley Freeman interview. I fear his struggles are not over, which is awful.

He admits he can’t stop drinking and says he wants to drink half a bottle of vodka before going on stage. . He also says he hopes he makes it to 60, which is in November.

He knows he has a huge problem. Being in the spotlight again will not end well unless he gets more professional help.

RJnomore1 it’s more about my feelings than about me being annnoyed with you. And I’ve done a bit of a thread hijack. I went through absolute hell because of that Guardian article and the complaint (which was by me). It needles me that they won’t make any meaningful amends for what they did.
I do think Hadley wrote a sensitive piece, at the same time Tony (can’t think I ever crossed paths with him, but I did with some WLIIA cast) seems to be really vulnerable.
I saw he was on at Edinburgh last year, looking much older (25 to 30 years had passed since I’d seen him, so no great shock there). I knew he was doing bits but all that leapt out to me from that article was that he had stopped his meds, and he was possibly drinking and it made me sad. I wished he got an agent, and a hug, and a bright idea to engage with services to support him.

OneShot really sorry you went through hell because of the Sean Hughes piece. I think it’s vile. And as I said above I had a v v tiny encounter with Sean Hughes a week it two before his death that put a smile on my face.

ByeClaire thank you. It’s nice that you had a nice encounter, sounds very Sean, he was always underpinned with a gentle politeness.

I do feel like the Guardian have got their PR sorted with this interview with Tony, far better to speak to the person whilst alive than a nudge nudge “there’s something “dark” about him hatchet piece shortly after death. Even if that’s not the case, that’s how it feels to me. And much as the main reaction to the article about Sean is that it was wrong, people also kind of still believe it. Otherwise why else would people ask/tell me that I must be a “victim”? The dead can’t sue for libel.
Look at how much of a headfuck the media is, it’s no wonder it impacts mental health.

oneshot be proud of that fact that, via Sean, you have changed The Gruniad’s editorial policy.

I read the article in the guardian the day it came out. I was a huge TS fan in the nineties, when I was a teen I wrote to channel 4 and they sent me a signed photo! I loved his energy and sense of humour.

In some ways his struggles mirror my own (abuse in the past led to lifetime struggles, bipolar etc) so I can identify with and sympathise with what he is going through. I imagine that stepping back in to the spotlight is probably too much though- too much pressure, too much attention. I myself have struggled to keep my head straight enough to do my jobs properly, there’s no way I could cope with being famous.

Tony if you read this, you’re awesome. Put looking after yourself first.

Thanks Rhubarb, although I would not claim to have!
They knew very quickly they had alienated their target audience; they may like to argue that printing a decent obit and his poem which mentions the Guardian (and all the hits and £££ that brings them) as examples of “free speech” as they sit besides the hatchet job they did on him, (and let’s face it, his many friends, family, loved ones, and ex’s.) Fortunately, with him being dead he didn’t have to know about it, which is one saving grace.
They had to manage their reputation going forward, and now they have.

The conversation on this thread is refreshingly concerned for Tony, whether he is coping with the attention, or lack of. If it’s right for him to work, remembering great stuff he’s done in the past, what it meant to you, wondering if we should support him working or protect him from it. Looking at the person and not just the “public persona”. Thank fuck for mumsnetters.
That’s frequently not enough of a consideration by the media (esp print media) in my view. And the spotlight is rarely on the behaviour of the media, it’s on the person.