Dawn French has opened up about what prompted her to write her own autobiography – penned as letters to the people she loved, including a heartfelt note to her ex-husband Sir Lenny Henry.
Unauthorized Biography Sparks Memoir
The 68-year-old television star and writer appeared on comedian Mo Gilligan's Beginning, Middle and End podcast, where she discussed her memoir and bestselling publications. French revealed that the motivation for writing her autobiography stemmed from an unauthorized biography, which led her to reclaim her narrative and document her own life story.
She said: "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?'"
French added: "This book was out there with all these lies about me and kind of misrepresenting 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."
Letters to Loved Ones
When penning her memoirs, French opted for an unconventional format, crafting them as a series of letters to individuals she knew or looked up to, including her ex-husband Sir Lenny Henry. The pair were married for more than 25 years before announcing their friendly split in 2010.
She explained: "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."
Friendship After Marriage
This wasn't the first occasion French has discussed Lenny Henry since their marriage ended. Speaking to the Mirror several years after they parted ways, she reflected on how they'd managed to transform their relationship into a friendship. She revealed: "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."
