At 60, portrait of a dazzling new Dawn
VICAR Of Dibley star Dawn French looks heavenly at 60 thanks to her dramatic seven stone weight loss.
She could easily pass for a woman half her age, as this sultry snap in black and white shows.
It was taken by celebrity photographer Trevor Leighton to mark her birthday today.
Wearing an off-the-shoulder black woollen jumper Dawn glows in heavy mascara and silver eyeliner with her voluminous hair deliberately frazzled.
Trevor, a friend since his first portrait of Dawn in 1981, said: “I think it’s her best photograph yet. Not because of my talent, but because Dawn radiates beauty. It’s simple – the camera loves her.”
The key to the star’s new look is a healthy eating regime, she says.
For years comic Dawn waged a very public battle with the bulge. Then finally she was ordered to lose weight before surgery.
“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 said. “Otherwise it would be big open surgery, and three months to recover. So I set about dropping a few stone. No magic wand, just tiny, joyless low-cal eating and lots more walking for weeks and weeks.
“It was grim...but I lost seven and a half stone. I could have the keyhole surgery. Great. That’s all it was, practical.”
At Christmas Dawn and long-standing comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, 59, will reunite to mark the 30th anniversary of The French And Saunders Sketch Show with a new BBC One episode.
The comedy programme was an instant hit when it first aired in 1987, making both stars.
Dawn became a national favourite as fictional female vicar Geraldine Granger while Jennifer played fast-living Edina in Absolutely Fabulous.
Dawn married comic and actor Sir Lenny Henry in 1984 but the couple divorced in 2010. She has been married to charity boss Mark Bignell since 2013.
IT IS incredible that Dawn French is 60: she has never looked better than she does today. Much of it is down to her weight loss – but we’ll have what she’s having. In moderation of course.