British comedian Julian Clary nearly fathered a child as a teenager and came close to ending his own life 20 years ago.

In an interview to be aired on Piers Morgan's British Tv show Life Stories on Friday (18Oct13), the openly gay funnyman reveals he had a relationship with a woman in his youth, during which she fell pregnant.

Clary, 54, did not learn about the pregnancy until the unnamed woman told him after they split up that she had lost his baby.

He tells Morgan, "I couldn't help imagining what the child would have been like. Now it would have been 35. It'd be marvellous, wouldn't it?"

Clary also recalls how he plunged into a pit of despair in the early 1990s and considered ending his own life, adding, "I was having day-long panic attacks. My judgement wasn't right at all. I did get all my pills out and I thought, 'I'll just lie down for 20 minutes before I take this major step'. Then I fell asleep or I thought better of it."