Dawn French appeared to defend Andy Burnham's wife against cruel 'body-shaming' trolls in a furious video. The comedian posted a video of herself blasting the 'bullying' comments about an unnamed woman, thought to be the new PM's wife Marie-France van Heel.
Dawn French's video message
The 68-year-old raged for people to 'stop' commenting on 'normal human women' - seemingly in response to vitriol directed at van Heel after her and Burnham's appearance at Buckingham Palace for his meeting with King Charles. The Vicar of Dibley star - who has called out body-shamers in the past - began: 'So, a woman… a human normal woman standing there and all you can talk about is her dress and her body.'
'How dare you body shame her? This is a bright woman who speaks lots of languages, she’s run businesses, she’s faced challenges you wouldn’t even begin to imagine. You wouldn’t have the f**king courage for it.' Screwing up her face in frustration, she concluded: 'Stop it! Stop bullying people! It’s a human being with a human body!'
Response and background
The actor captioned the clip: 'STOP BODY SHAMING PEOPLE YOU UTTER C**KSHRIMPS!!!' Van Heel is a Dutch-born marketing executive who speaks three languages. She previously owned a marketing company and is on the board of Plan International UK, a global charity aiming to improve gender equality for girls. French's fans flooded the comments with their agreement, with one writing: 'I am HORRIFIED by the vitriol Andy Burnham’s wife is being subjected too.' Another added: 'Seriously?? Am I right in thinking she's talking about the new prime ministers wife?! If so, Dawn is so right.'
A slew of celebrities also shared their support, with Paloma Faith writing 'Love you Dawn!' and Suranne Jones and Sarah Millican adding love heart emojis. Jameela Jamil penned 'Love you,' and Vicky Pattinson and Keeley Hawes commented several hand-clapping emojis. Van Heel faced cruel comments about her appearance after wearing a pastel dress by Victoria Beckham’s eponymous fashion brand to Buckingham Palace.
Previous stance on body-shaming
This isn’t the first time French has taken an impassioned stand against body-shaming comments from the public. In 2023, she blasted trolls for 'reducing' women to descriptions of their appearance and called out headlines praising her weight loss. The comic had a cancer scare in 2014 and required a hysterectomy. She was told by her doctor that if she lost weight, her recovery time would be quicker. French then lost seven and a half stone.
'I have never rejected the bigger woman I have been. Lots of people do it and say, “Oh, you look so much better – now you look well,”' French told The Times. 'And I think, “F*** off! Don’t judge that other person who I loved.”' '[British singer] Alison Moyet is a very good friend and so often she has been reduced to descriptions of her physicality. She’s this giant talent, why reduce her to that? I’m not taking any s*** from anyone about any of it.'
French also spoke of the early years of her career when she and her comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders, starred in their BBC show French and Saunders. She said she felt as though the comedy duo were often described by how they looked – something she says 'never' happened to their male colleagues. 'For many years Jennifer [Saunders] and I were always described by how we looked, especially me, because I was the bigger one.'
