I’m a barrel again and don’t care, says Dawn
SHE lost an amazing seven and a half stones in preparation for surgery.
Now Dawn French admits that she is piling on the pounds again. The actress, who turns 63 on Sunday, says she is happy with the way she looks and refuses to be ‘stingy’ with food.
‘I’ve gone back to being an entire barrel,’ she joked to comedy partner Jennifer Saunders on their new podcast.
‘But do you know what, I’m going to be 63 this year. I don’t give a ****. So long as I can walk. I’m not going to be stingy to myself any more. I never did dislike anything really about my body or anything – even when I was very, very fat.
‘I used to get really angry when I did lose the weight and everyone told me, “Oh you look so well”, as if you looked awful before.’
She said she found the approval of others ‘patronising’.
Miss French began losing weight after her marriage to fellow comedian Sir Lenny Henry ended in 2010, then shed more so that she could have a keyhole hysterectomy rather than full surgery.
Diet and an exercise regime saw her drop from around 19st to 11 and a half. Last month she appeared to have put a small amount of weight back on when she took part in an event to support theatres.
In the podcast, Miss French, who married therapist Mark Bignell in 2013, also revealed that she turned down Strictly Come Dancing because she does not want to be presented as the BBC1 show’s comedy act. ‘They’ve approached me in a circling way before now about it,’ she said.
‘If I did it, I’d want to properly dance. I’d want to be taken seriously and you can’t. At this age, you’re not taken seriously. ‘Also, if you’re from comedy they want to shoot you out of a cannonball like Ann Widdecombe. And I don’t want that. ‘I want the nicest dresses, the most elegant other dancer and to take it seriously, and nobody would want that.’ Miss Saunders agreed, saying: ‘I can’t dance. I’ve got no rhythm. ‘I like watching it. But I have to say, being on it would make me cringe... We know we’d be with Anton du Beke. We wouldn’t get Aljaz or any of the nice ones.’