Ricky Gervais: David Bowie hid his health 'from everyone'

LONDON -- Ricky Gervais has revealed he was emailing David Bowie just weeks before the singer passed away, and that the 69-year-old kept his illness a secret.

Speaking to Radio 5 Live, the actor and comedian talked of his friendship with Bowie and the Starman's great sense of humour.

“It was a total surprise,” Gervais told the station. “I was emailing him two weeks before, so he must have known, and he was writing the funniest emails.”

“He kept it from everyone. What dignity. He was an amazing man.”

He also recalled how the pair became “pen pals,” after Bowie discovered The Office, hanging out in New York and in the UK when the singer visited.

"No-one met David Bowie," he added. "David Bowie was a sort of fictional character. But David Jones was this really ordinary guy from London who was brilliant at something."

Gervais led the outpouring of grief on Twitter when Bowie passed away in January.

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During the interview, Gervais also reminisced about visiting Bowie's apartment and looking at a 3D representation of a Picasso, which the singer said his daughter liked to hit with a hammer.

David Bowie famously appeared in Ricky Gervais' Extras, singing of a "chubby little loser" and a "pathetic little fat man" in honour of the show's protagonist Andy Millman.

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