A NEW DAWN
The much- loved comedienne is about to turn 60
She’s known for speaking her mind and coming out with wisecracks that have people in stitches.
But comedienne Dawn French, who is about to turn
60, says with advancing age has come an increasing desire to be quieter and calmer.
“I’ve learned to shut up a bit,” says The Vicar of Dibley star. “I’ve found just by lying down and listening to my thoughts that a bit of silence is a lovely thing. And I need it.
“These days, I find joy in being quiet and still, finding beauty in small things.”
Now a celebrated author as well as an actress, Dawn has written a self-reflective memoir called Me. You: A Diary, which focuses on her thoughts on ageing and appreciating life, and will be published to coincide with her milestone birthday on October 11.
She says when she was younger, it never occurred to her to take time out from her career, but now she has realised she needs to be “more calm, more measured, to appreciate what you’ve got”.
Dawn has had her fair share of heartache in her life, including losing her father to suicide when she was 19, struggling with infertility before adopting her daughter Billie (26), and the break-up of her marriage to
comedian Sir Lenny Henry after 25 years together.
She has also spoken out about the shocking racism she and Lenny were subjected to during their marriage, including an arson attack on their home.
“Someone put an oily rag through our front door and tried to burn us down,” she says. “Luckily, I woke up and smelt it, otherwise I am not sure we would be here.”
Another time, the front door of their home was smeared with excrement. She says while the attacks were “hugely disappointing and shocking, you have to get past it. I never thought, ‘Oh, look at me in a mixed-race relationship.’ I fell in love with a man and he happened to be black, and we adopted a mixed-race daughter. I only realised it was an issue when there was hatred from utter twats.”
She adds, “These things make you steel up a bit and think, ‘Bring it on. I can deal with this.’ It was just us living in our time and doing our jobs, and being the people we were. It wasn’t brave. We were lucky that we had a big house and a gate, and we could employ people to protect us when we needed it. Lots of mixed-race couples weren’t so lucky.”
Dawn and Lenny split up in 2010 and in 2013 Dawn married Mark Bignell, who runs a charity for people with drug and alcohol problems. He has helped Dawn to find her inner calm, although she’s quick to make it clear that seeking a more peaceful existence doesn’t mean she’s lost that famous sense of humour.
During a radio interview last year, she joked about wanting to do crazy things she missed out on when she was younger, including taking drugs. “Back then, I did no drugs whatsoever, which I regret massively,” she said, her tongue planted firmly in her cheek. “I am intending to do loads of drugs when
I’m much older. Some hot drugs coursing through your veins would add to the fun of being old.
“A feeble old body and a bit of crack cocaine go together really quite well.”
She has also spoken out – seriously, this time – about the behaviour of young women who go out to “get utterly hammered and have sex in a bush”. She says women are behaving like men in that respect, but that is not what feminism is about.
“Is that what women threw themselves in front of horses for?” she asks, referring to the suffragette movement. “For girls to be as low as those awful boys? How did we go wrong?”
She says feminism is the “freedom to be equal” to men but shouldn’t give young women licence to behave as badly.
Her views may be at odds with those of some members of the younger generation, but Dawn doesn’t care. Nor does she feel her age.
“When I was a kid, I used to look at people who were 60 and think you should just really die because what is the point of you? Now I’m that person, but being 60 doesn’t feel like anything. I feel like I’m 40.”
She admits there is one thing in particular she is looking forward to about getting older and that is becoming a grandmother. “I know you are not supposed to encourage your children to have kids, but I am a grandmother in waiting. Jennifer Saunders has three I practise with – I can’t wait!”
‘ When I was young, I used to look at people who were 60 and think what is the point of you?’