We adore watching Dawn French in TV shows such as Vicar of Dibley and French and Saunders (who recently reunited on screen for Death on The Nile) and curling up with her much-loved books. But how much do you know about the popular comedian?
Dawn made headlines earlier this year when she revealed a shorter new ‘do’. It had a Fifties’ rocker look to it – which has now grown into her classic bob style – but her decision to embrace the grey was the real talking point.
“I couldn’t believe people were so interested in my hair,” she said at the time. “My mum went grey in her 20s and my own grey has been coming through since my late 20s. There comes a point when you just think, ‘Maybe it’s time to stop covering it up. Maybe it’s time for hair to match face’. The trigger came during the lockdowns and I couldn’t be bothered with dyeing it. It feels liberating, but if I decide I don’t like it, I’ll just start having it dyed again!”
Dawn French podcast, Titting About
Dawn French's latest comedic offering with Jennifer Saunders is their hilarious podcast Titting About. These days the banter may be more about middle age rage, and aches and pains rather than cutting edge comedy, but the giggling, daft jokes, ‘out there’ observations and often outrageous one-liners they trade with each other are ageless.
“I plan to grow old disgracefully,” she’s often said. “Jen and I discuss this – and many other subjects – on our podcast. We’re like kids when we get together and laugh so much. Finding humour is the way I relate to my life. Getting older isn’t for wusses.Things stop working, you have to have a knee operation, your teeth are a bit yellower, your chin has sagged. But getting older is also a privilege. Plus you’re much more hairless than you used to be!”
On Titting About, while Jen, for instance, admits she prefers not to confront things, Dawn is the opposite. “I’m far more likely to tackle things than Jennifer,” she tells listeners. “There are pros and cons to both approaches, but I have a propensity to sit around a table and sort things out. It’s not everyone’s way of dealing with something but I can’t live my life properly if I don’t do that. Unresolved things weigh heavily on me and sometimes it’s just a case of sorting out misunderstandings.”
During their podcasts, Dawn and Jen talk about things in such a relatable, self-deprecating and humorous way, they are a joy to listen to. Dawn is particularly ‘on point’ when it comes to what is termed ‘psychobabble’.
“I can’t be doing with it!” she shared. “I suppose it’s American in origin but it’s become normal-speak now. Actually, that’s a bit of psychobabble in itself, isn’t it? ‘Normal speak’. What really drives me mad is the phrase, ‘I’m sitting in my truth’. What does that even mean? What it really means is, ‘This is what I think and I am right’.
“The only bit of psychobabble I will grudgingly admit to thinking OK is ‘Trust the process’, although I don’t like the terminology."
Dawn French one-woman show
In addition to chewing the fat with her old mate, Jen, Dawn currently has another outlet in which to vent. Until October 16, she’s touring the country with a new one-woman show entitled, Dawn French is a Huge Tw*t.
“The title is controversial but I wanted to call it that because it’s horribly accurate,” she says. “It’s an evening of me telling stories of times when I’ve been an idiot, when I’ve misunderstood or misheard something, or got something hideously wrong in my career. The idea is to show that getting things wrong is often where the fun in life is.
“It’s me reaching out a hand, being open and honest and saying, ‘Look, we’re all so similar. We can all be
silly and pompous and cowardly. All that matters really is how we try to pick our way through life and remain decent people as much as we possibly can’.”
Dawn French's age
Dawn was born on 11th October 1957 and is 63-years-old.
Dawn's French's height
Dawn is 5ft (152.4 cm) tall.
Who is Dawn French's husband?
Dawn married comedian Lenny Henry in 1984 but their marriage sadly came to an end in 2010. In 2013, Dawn married Mark Bignall, co-founder of Hamoaze House, a support charity which helps recovering drug abusers and alcoholics reintegrate into society.
Dawn French's daughter
Dawn and ex-husband Lenny Henry have an adopted daughter together. Billie Henry was adopted by the former couple at just two-weeks old.
Following a long struggle with infertility in 1991. Dawn reveals that this was a very difficult time in her life and that she struggled to come to terms with it.
"I knew I wanted to definitely be a mother that was a very strong instinct," she said during Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast. "Then what happened was my body wouldn't let me be a mother and everything kept failing all the time for all sorts of reasons.
"We had to make a big decision, to put aside IVF and go for adoption."
Dawn described her daughter as ‘the greatest achievement' of her life. However, Dawn has admitted in the past that her and her daughter have had a difficult relationship: "Our relationship exists in a bizarre kind of process of peacetime, small battles, war. The peacetime is much more than the other two energies, but we have our wars."
Billie has now moved out of Dawn's home although she lives just 12 minutes away.
"We could no longer live together – there would be murder," said Dawn in an interview. "But we have to live nearby."
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
The comedy duo met in 1978 when they were both attending the Central School of Speech and Drama where they began to collaborate on various comedy projects. Since then, they have created six series of their famous comedy sketch show, French and Saunders, which ran from 1987 - 2007. The pair continue to appear in comedy specials together for comic relief however and still make audiences laugh.
In the below video they're joined by Dame Judi Dench for a Repair Shop Comic Relief special!
Was Dawn French in Absolutely Fabulous?
Dawn has never featured as a main character in Absolutely Fabulous but she has been heavily involved in writing the series and it was revealed that Jennifer Saunders decided to go ahead with the Absolutely Fabulous Movie after a bet with Dawn!
Dawn French in Vicar of Dibley
Dawn French is synonymous with her much-loved Vicar of Dibley character, Geraldine—whom she played for four years from 1994 to 1998. She researched her character through conversations with Joy Caroll—one of the first ever female vicars, and Dawn’s hilarious portrayal of church life has “normalised” women of the cloth.
Dawn French's weight loss
Dawn began to lose weight in 2011, shortly after her divorce from Lenny Henry however Dawn has made it clear that her main motivation was her health. At just 4'11, Dawn weighed a reported 19 stone at her heaviest.
‘When you’re over 50 you have to pay attention to your health a bit,’ she said to The Mirror in 2012.
Furthermore, in 2014 following a cancer scare, Dawn had to go through a hysterectomy which also prompted her to lose weight.
‘When I was due to have my hysterectomy the doc told me that if I could lose some weight before the op, they would be able to do it via keyhole, and I would recover in three weeks or so,’ she explained.
‘Otherwise it would be big open surgery, and three months to recover. So, I set about dropping a few stone.’
Dawn French's books
Dawn has been writing professionally since 2011 when she released her autobiography and the Sunday Times number one bestseller, Dear Fatty. This was then followed up by several fiction novels, the newest of which is Because of You.
“The novel is about motherhood and what it means to be a mum – biologically or not,” says Dawn. “What are the ties that bind a mother and child? Who does a child belong to? The person whose blood and genes they share or the person who loves and raises them? It’s about identity. I know a bit about this because I adopted a child myself with my former husband Lenny Henry and, before she arrived, I wondered about connecting with and loving this child as much as a biological mother would.
I talked about it at great length with Jennifer (Dawn’s comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders) who said, ‘Dawn, I’ve had three daughters and I don’t recognise any of them – they’re all completely different. Rest assured that you will.’ And I did. Billie (now 29) arrived and it was the biggest love I’d ever known. I love my daughter more than I love anyone in the world.”
Writing a novel is a famously insular process but it’s one Dawn says she loves.
“I am actually a bit of a hermit,” she laughs. “I call myself a functioning introvert! I write long hand on lined paper with a freshly sharpened pencil. More books have been written like this than on computer or typewriter. I’m quite old-fashioned although I have given up on the tablet and chisel! I like the smell of the pencil and the sound it makes on the page as I write.
The fact that my book is written in my own handwriting is also very important to me. It’s like seeing my personality on the page. I have a darling PA who types up all my books. I’m quite strict when I’m writing and only allow myself to have two looks per week at a thesaurus, which is in book form naturally. It stops me getting too flowery and showing off with words!”
1.
Dear Fatty
Is Dawn French on Twitter
While she is not on Instagram, you can follow Dawn and insights into her personal life on Twitter here.