Dawn French and Lenny Henry's poignant confession about their marriage split

13 October 2023 , 20:40

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Dawn French and Lenny Henry's poignant confession about their marriage split

For 25 years, Dawn French and Lenny Henry were one of the most famous couples in comedy, and fans were left surprised and saddened when, in 2020, they announced their "entirely amicable" divorce, stating their intention to "maintain their close friendship".

Dawn and Lenny first locked eyes in 1980, back when they were both members of the alternative comedy show Comic Strip, and for Lenny, 65, it was a "meeting of minds". Detailing his initial connection to Dawn in his 2022 memoir Rising to the Surface, Lenny wrote: "A massive light bulb went off over my head. I was compelled by [Dawn]. We talked about everything... performance, politics (my family voted Labour, but I hadn't really connected with the whys of it until I met Dawn), family, relationships, food, the future."

In 1984, the then-happy couple tied the knot in what Lenny later referred to as a "fancy-schmancy chi-chi hall" in London's Covent Garden, going all out to celebrate their love.

The pair fell in love as co-stars on Comic Strip, and married in 1984 (Press Association)

Reflecting upon their lavish ceremony, Lenny recalled: "To my mind, if we weren't going to get married in the right way — big church, reception, dress suits, food, friends and family jammed into a fancy-schmancy chi-chi hall with a big band and Big Al the DJ winding up the day's events with a big disco — then we might as well not do it at all."

In 1991, Lenny and Dawn, 66, welcomed daughter Billie, who they adopted at two weeks old. Opening up about becoming a mother through adoption during a 2015 interview with The Telegraph, Dawn remarked: "I had grief for a while. I did have miscarriages, so I've had grief about that as well. But the minute Billie arrived that was it for me. She fills everything I needed to be as a mother."

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For many years, Lenny and Dawn appeared to be very well-suited, supporting each other's glamorous careers and raising their daughter together. In 2010 however, Dawn and Lenny shocked fans after divorcing on the grounds of his "unreasonable behaviour". A statement issued on behalf of the couple read as follows: "The separation is entirely amicable and they fully intend to maintain their close friendship. Their priority is to commit to the future joint parenting of their daughter."

The former couple remain close friends (Getty Images)

They've both found love elsewhere (Getty Images)

There were reports at the time that Lenny cheated on Dawn in 1999, however, he has denied this allegation. Six years after their divorce, however, in 2016, Lenny did shed a bit of light on why exactly they decided to separate. In a poignant confession made during an interview with the Daily Express, Lenny revealed: "There's generally a situation where one partner wants the marriage to finish more than the other.

"I think maybe one of us did, then the other one did, and then the other did over a period of time, and then, in the end, we thought, 'Oh, actually maybe we both do'. We knew it wasn't possible to continue."

Thankfully, the couple appear to have remained good friends after their split, and have both since found love elsewhere. In 2013, Dawn married Mark Bignell, a therapist who co-founded drug and alcohol addiction charity Hamoaze House, alongside Dawn's late mother, Felicity 'Roma' French. The couple live in a beautiful waterside mansion in Cornwall, not far from daughter Billie. Lenny has reportedly been with his partner, the theatre director Lisa Makin, since 2012.

Julia Banim