“That’s the key, you know, confidence. I know for a fact that if you genuinely like your body, so can others. It doesn’t really matter if it’s short, tall, fat or thin, it just matters that you can find some things to like about it. Even if that means having a good laugh at the bits of it that wobble independently, occasionally, that’s all right. It might take you a while to believe me on this one, lots of people don’t because they seem to suffer from self-hatred that precludes them from imagining that a big woman could ever love herself because they don’t. But I do. I know what I’ve got is a bit strange and difficult to love but those are the very aspects that I love the most! It’s a bit like people. I’ve never been particularly attracted to the uniform of conventional beauty. I’m always a bit suspicious of people who feel compelled to conform. I personally like the adventure of difference. And what’s beauty, anyway?”Happy - gulp - 60th birthday today to one of our favourite comediennes, Miss Dawn French!
With or without her thirty-years-in-the-spotlight comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, Miss French is a remarkable woman [and, indeed an accomplished actress - I vividly recall her unexpected role as a homicidal nurse in Tender Loving Care]. A semi-permanent foil for the tabloids with her flick-flacking weight, her difficult interracial marriage to another comedy darling Lenny Henry [they received death threats and intimidation throughout their 25 years together] and their subsequent split, and her various degrees of solo success [The Vicar of Dibley] and not-so-much [Wild West], she seems to survive it all with a smile on her face.
On Jen being successful first, away from their partnership, she recently said:
“It can be hard when a friend, especially one you’ve never done any work separately from, suddenly has a huge success without you.
“Ab Fab was such a massive hit. Until then Jennifer and I had been utterly linked in everything we did. I was made very aware that, in comedy terms, she was a completely individual, separate person. With her own powers.
“That really shocked me. Not only was she able to do it without me, she could do it really well. So that was really annoying. But however jealous I was, I love her and I was proud of her. I dealt with it by being open and honest about my jealousy. I sent her a bunch of flowers when she won a BAFTA saying, ‘Congratulations you cunt.’"
Last week, we caught her one-woman show 30 Million Minutes on the BBC, and - like the live audience - we were captivated by Dawn's candid exploration of her real life story and those people closest to her who have played such an important role in it so far. Hilarious at times, and utterly tragic at others [her father committed suicide when she was 18], it single-handedly confirmed just why - of all the clichéd epithets - Our Dawn is, indeed, a "national treasure".
Here are some very brief clips (but if ever you can get to see it, I recommend it - here in the UK it is still available on the BBC iPlayer for the next few weeks):
And by way of an extra bonus, here's the opening part of her magnum opus documentary Dawn French on Big Women (co-starring, among others, Alison Moyet and Jo Brand):
[parts 2 to 5 are also available from the same YouTube channel]
Many happy returns, Dawn Roma French (born 11th October 1957).
Read my previous "birthday blog" about Our Dawn.