Dawn French has spoken about why she decided to write an autobiography while explaining how a strange ordeal made her write a letter to her ex-husband, Sir Lenny Henry.
Why Dawn French Wrote an Autobiography
Actress and author Dawn French has explained why she decided to write an autobiography - and how it ended with her writing a letter to her ex-husband, Sir Lenny Henry. Dawn, 68, was speaking to fellow comedian Mo Gilligan on his Beginning, Middle & End podcast when she talked about her autobiography in a conversation about her best-selling books.
Addressing why she decided to write an autobiography, Dawn said it was originally because someone had written a biography, following which she decided to take back control and write the story of her own life herself. She explained: “I wrote an autobiography lots of years ago. And the reason I did that is because somebody else wrote a biography of me and that was a very weird experience.
“I felt like being bullied because somebody I don’t know, a pretty bad writer actually…got a huge amount to write my story. I never met this person, they went and talked to some people, tried to talk to people in my family. Most people go ‘Nonono, who are you?’
“This book was out there with all these lies about me and kind of mispresenting me on important things in my life and hurting my family. So, the publisher came along and said what you need to do is your book, your story. So it was a need, I was responding to what had happened.”
Writing in Letters to Loved Ones
When it came to writing her autobiography, Dawn decided to take a different approach, writing it in the form of letters to people she knew or admired including her husband Sir Lenny Henry, to whom she was married for over 25 years before announcing their amicable separation in 2010.
She said: “So I sat down to write this autobiography and thought, ‘Right, how am I going to do this?’ And I wrote my autobiography in the form of letters. I wrote to people in my life. I wrote to my dad who died. I wrote to my mum. I wrote to Jennifer (Saunders). I wrote to my best friend. I wrote to David Cassidy who I had a crush on.
“I wrote to the Beatles. I wrote fan letters. Some of them were just comedy. Some of them were heartfelt. I wrote to Lenny. I wrote to people that I loved, my beloveds and people that I admired. So luckily, that book then overtook the other book that was rubbish.”
Dawn French on Her Friendship with Lenny Henry
This isn’t the first time Dawn has spoken about Lenny Henry following the end of their marriage. In an interview with the Mirror a few years after their split, she commented on their transition from relationship to friendship. She said: “Remarkably, we seem to have shifted with relative ease from a 25-year marriage to a lasting friendship. I am amazed by us – there is no war, we’ve turned out to be the best of friends. There were lots of good years but one tricky last year.”
Dawn French is due to appear on Saturday Kitchen Live today (Saturday, June 20) from 10am on BBC One.
