United Kingdom, April 27 -- John Cleese had "suicidal thoughts" after the end of his third marriage.

The 84-year-old comedy legend admitted to having a "breakdown" some time after he split from Alyce Faye Eichelberger, who he was ordered to pay almost £16 million when they divorced in 2008, and spent some time in "clinics" to help tackle his mental state.

He told Saga magazine: "[The breakdown came] kind of after the full impact of the divorce came through.

"I had to go into clinics for a bit. In a funny kind of way, when you have an experience like that I think you learn a lot from it.

"It wasn't pleasant. I was never about to kill myself, but I had suicidal thoughts, but not really very serious ones.

"And then I came out and I...