Dawn French has opened up about her weight loss, rubbishing rumours that she had a gastric band or lost weight due to heartbreak over her split from husband Lenny Henry.
The comic has now revealed why she lost over seven stone in 2011, explaining that a cancer scare meant she needed to slim down in order to have a hysterectomy with keyhole surgery.
Dawn French in 2011
Speaking at the opening of her one-woman show in Sheffield, the comic explained the secret reasons behind her weight loss.
The Mirror reports that images of newspaper headlines focusing on her weight changes appeared on a big screen as Dawn spoke, stating: “I became quite ill about three years ago, with all kinds of hell kicking off in here, where I keep my lady plumbing.”
“Anyway, I eventually went to hospital, and my doc was so convinced I had uterine cancer, that he ordered a second biopsy to be sure, when the first one was clear.
“Even before the result of the second one, I decided to be done with my old enemy, my defunct reproductive stuff. It was curtailing my life.”
“So my womb and I parted company. Goodbye. When I was due to have my hysterectomy the doc told me that if I could lose some weight before the op, they would be able to do it via ‘key-hole’, and I would recover in three weeks or so,” she continued.
“Otherwise it would be big open surgery, and three months to recover. So, I set about dropping a few stone.
“No magic wand, just tiny, joyless low-cal eating and lots more walking for weeks and weeks.
“It was grim. I lost seven and a half stone. I could have the keyhole surgery. Great. That’s all it was, practical.”
After having the surgery in 2011, the ‘Vicar Of Dibley’ star embraced her curves again.