INTERVIEW
British comedy icon John Cleese, 84, on the stem cell therapy he swears by, how his $20 million divorce led to a nervous breakdown, and why he’s reopening the doors to Fawlty Towers
Ja surprising answer. He insists it’s the stem cell therapy he’s been having for more than 20 years that’s staving off the march of time (albeit he has had one knee and two hip replacements). It involves using cells at early stage of development to rejuvenate the body. ‘These cells travel around the body and when they discover a place that needs repair, they’ll then change into the cells that you want for that repair, so they might become cartilage cells or liver cells,’ Cleese explains. ‘So I think that’s why I don’t look bad for 84.’
The groundbreaking therapy is not cheap, at around £17,000 every 12-18 months. ‘But if you’re buying yourself a few extra years, I think it’s worth it,’ he enthuses. ‘You must get the highest quality stem cells – the ones I have are from a place in Montreux, Switzerland, called La Prairie.’
But stem cells aside, there’s another reason for the spring in Cleese’s step. He says his wife Jennifer Wade – who at 52 is more than 30 years his junior – also keeps him young. ‘A lot of people comment [on the age difference] and then the moment they actually see us together for two minutes they say, “Oh, I get it”, and it never arises again,’ he says. ‘Jennifer’s got the most extraordinary sense of humour and what I love is that she’s 30 years younger than I am, but she keeps me young. I mean, it is sad to think I shall die some time before she will, but I’m in pretty good health. I’m not fit, but the way I put it is that the doctors don’t yet know what I’m going to die of.’
The Fawlty Towers star married jewellery designer Jennifer in August 2012 when he was at an extremely low point in his life and credits her with helping him through that dark time. In fact, not long after their wedding he suffered a breakdown and had to check into a clinic for treatment. ‘I mean, the poor woman married me and the next thing is, I have a nervous breakdown,’ he laughs, ruefully. ‘I said, “Sorry darling – this isn’t part of the original plan”. But she is terrific, and there’s a very deep connection between the two of us, which I think enables us to be extremely silly together. It’s lovely because I haven’t really ever received that amount of affection and support before now.’
Cleese says his breakdown was brought on by the stress of his divorce from his third wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger, a psychotherapist to whom he was married for 16 years and who received a huge $20 million (almost £16 million) divorce settlement. Though they split in 2008, the effects of that settlem
