Dawn French, once part of the nation’s most beloved comedy duos, is now enjoying a joyous marriage and is gracing our screens again this festive season. She’s returned to the role of the Fairy in Marks and Spencer’s Christmas advert, even appearing alongside herself.
In addition to playing the Fairy, Dawn also portrays the stressed neighbour, whom the Fairy assists by conjuring up ham and cheese scones, pork pies, and for added decadence, a raspberry and pistachio roulade to impress her guests.
The cherished Vicar of Dibley star, 67, expressed her delight: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be fluttering back as Fairy this Christmas, and oh my wings, do we have a plot twist for you! Let’s just say, Fairy meeting Dawn herself was quite THE moment! Who knew we’d ever share the same screen? Magic really does happen!”.
Behind the scenes, Dawn has an extraordinary personal tale involving the adoption of her daughter Billie. Dawn and Lenny Henry were a high-profile comedic partnership for 25 years, yet they faced private challenges starting a biological family, reports the Mirror.
In 1991, the couple adopted their daughter Billie when she was just two weeks old. Discussing the experience of becoming a mother through adoption with The Telegraph in 2015, Dawn shared an emotional insight: “I had grief for a while.
“I did have miscarriages, so I’ve had grief about that as well. But the minute Billie arrived that was it for me. She fills everything I needed to be as a mother.”
Opening up in a heartfelt interview with HELLO! in October 2021, the talented actress shared insights into the incredible bond she shares with her daughter. “My biggest test and my biggest joy,” she referred to her child, adding: “But it is unbreakable. We have the same amount of mother/daughter friction that any mum and daughter have, it’s no more or less. But I’ve learnt a lot about her. And she’s learnt a lot about me.”
While Billie, now 32, has flown the family nest, their closeness remains intact as they reside mere moments apart. Talking to The Telegraph in 2015 with her trademark wit, Dawn quipped: “We could no longer live together – there would be murder. But we have to live nearby.”
The country felt a touch of heartache hearing the amicable split between Dawn and Lenny in 2010, though they vowed to preserve their meaningful friendship. Their eyes first met in 1980 at the comic cradle Comic Strip, igniting a spark that for comedian Lenny, now 66, was very much a “meeting of minds”.
The once-celebrated union between comics unravelled over time, ultimately concluding on reported grounds of his ‘unreasonable behaviour’. Spurred by speculations that Lenny had been unfaithful back in 1999—a claim he has always denied—the couple eventually found themselves at a crossroads.
In an open-hearted revelation to the Express in 2016, Lenny admitted: “There’s generally a situation where one partner wants the marriage to finish more than the other.
“I think maybe one of us did, then the other one did, and then the other did over a period of time and then, in the end, we thought, ‘Oh, actually maybe we both do’. We knew it wasn’t possible to continue.”
Alison Boyer, Dawn’s biographer, suggested to the Mail that for quite a while prior to their split, Dawn and Lenny had been ‘outgrowing’ their marriage, citing that they had spent minimal time together in the last two years. Regardless of their past differences, the pair have maintained a friendly rapport since their separation and have found new avenues of happiness.
In 2013, Dawn was joyously wed to Mark Bignell, a therapist and co-founder of the drug and alcohol charity Hamoaze House, established alongside Dawn’s late mother, Felicity ‘Roma’ French. Their home is an enchanting mansion by the water in Cornwall, close to their daughter Billie.
As for Lenny, reports suggest he’s been happily involved with theatre director Lisa Makin since 2012.
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