Celebrity Dawn French: ‘I don’t people-please any more’
Dawn French opens up about finally making peace with herself and talks about why she is ready for a fresh start
Dawn French has never been one to mince her words, so it might come as a surprise to learn that up until recently, she was prone to people-pleasing. But since entering her 60s three years ago, Dawn admits she’s finally ‘settling into her skin’ and no longer cares what others think of her. ‘I’m in my stride,’ she says.
The comedian, who is married to Mark Bignell, has just sold her plush Cornwall home and is ready to embrace a new chapter, which will include living a more simplistic, peaceful lifestyle.
‘I accept myself’
Dawn says that the ageing process has finally provided her with the self-confidence she lacked in her youth. ‘I spent a lot of my life up until now people-pleasing and trying to work out what’s required of me by others. I’m settling into my skin now,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour podcast.
‘I kind of take some ownership of the person I genuinely am.’ And she’s even embracing the downsides to getting older. ‘It’s all about acceptance, including accepting my rather annoying arthritic knee,’ she jokes. ‘I’m not going to run a marathon. I’m not going to win Strictly, which is why I’m not going on it – because I can’t win it.’
She adds, ‘When I was a child, I remember thinking that people who were 40 just might as well die, because what was the point of them? You know when you’re a child, you think somebody who is 40 and above is just ancient and pointless.’
But the actor soon learnt that life begins at 40, explaining, ‘Of course, as you grow into your 40s, you are just starting to get to know yourself.’
Now in her 60s, rather than resenting her age, Dawn is making the most of it. ‘I’m 63 now and I feel grateful to be 63,’ she says. ‘I have many friends who didn’t make it into their 60s, so I’m very glad to be here and to be alive and kicking and doing everything I want to do, and getting to know myself more.’
New beginnings
‘I’M SETTLING INTO MY SKIN NOW’
While she’s well known for her award-winning TV writing, penning novels is something that Dawn only started later in life.
‘I tried not to surrender to insecurities,’ she says. ‘Novelists are people like Jane
Austen and Henry James, and I’m not as good as that. If I constantly measured myself by comparison to others, I wouldn’t do anything in life, so what I thought is, “I’d like to write something, let’s see if I can.”’ Proving that practice makes perfect, Dawn adds, ‘I’m getting better each time. There’s always another chapter, and I’m prepared to write a new chapter when I reach 100.’ Dawn, who shares daughter Billie with her ex-husband Sir Lenny Henry, has done much of her writing at her beloved coastal home in Fowey, Cornwall – but she’s now decided to sell up in a bid for a more private life. An insider has revealed that, after 15 years, she’s decided to relocate to a different part of Cornwall, because she’s not keen on how ‘trendy’ Fowey has become. ‘Dawn is selling up, but she’s very much staying in Cornwall,’ they revealed. ‘She just wanted a change. Dawn is low-profile and private. The fact that Fowey has recently become cool and trendy isn’t what she finds appealing per se.’ It’s likely that Dawn has downsized from the Grade Ii-listed property, after admitting last year that paying the mortgage on the 40-room home caused her sleepless nights. ‘I would honestly say paying the mortgage has kept me awake,’ she confessed. ‘COVID nicked my work! I’m planning to live a smaller, simpler life, I think, as the result of it.
‘I don’t know when, but I’m just going to reduce everything so that if this hits us again and again, I can survive.’
Sounds like a great plan!