Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'

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Dawn French has opened up about her weight loss journey over the years
Dawn French has opened up about her weight loss journey over the years

Dawn French recently wowed fans as she made a return to the signature hairstyle she is best know for; her sleek bob.

The 65-year-old Vicar of Dibley star showed off her gorgeous short locks as she posed on the red carpet of the Oklahoma! West End opening night on Tuesday.

French & Saunders star Dawn beamed as she modelled the stylish 'do she has been known for throughout her career. The only difference to the look this time around is that her tresses were that she had embraced her natural silver locks, which is a departure from the dark raven colour she previously had with the style.

During the photo opportunity, Dawn also showed off her impressive weight loss. The comedian has been incredibly open about her weight loss journey over the years since making the decision to change her lifestyle in 2011.

Her change in lifestyle sparked her to lose 7.5 stone. She discussed the decision behind her weight loss in 2014 after a cancer scare.

'Putting an actor in a fat suit to play an obese character is ableist hogwash' eiqrqirdirqinv'Putting an actor in a fat suit to play an obese character is ableist hogwash'
Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'Dawn French showed off her new 'do and her weight loss in a recent appearance (Ian West/PA Wire)
Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'Over the years, Dawn has been honest about her journey (Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Dawn revealed her weight loss in a one-woman-show in Sheffield as she explained: "I became quite ill about three years ago, with all kinds of hell kicking off in here, where I keep my lady plumbing."

Doctors warned the comedian she needed to lose weight in order to have the operation with minimal recovery time.

The Absolutely Fabulous actress then took up walking and began to count her calories.

She explained in 2014: "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.

Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'Dawn, pictured here in 2005, was warned by doctors over her weight (Getty Images)
Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'She was advised to lose weight in order to aid the recovery of an operation (Getty)

"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."

She added: "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.

"Otherwise it would be big open surgery, and three months to recover. So, I set about dropping a few stone.

Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'Dawn is best known for her role as Geraldine Granger in The Vicar Of Dibley (BBC)

"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."

In 2020, Dawn said she was "back to being an entire barrel" and didn't "give a f**k".

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She didn't reveal how much weight she had gained but said she refuses to dislike herself as she said in her podcast French and Saunders: T**ting About: "I've gone back to being an entire barrel but do you know what, I'm going to be 63 this year, I don't give a f**k, I really don't, so long as I can walk.

Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'In 2020 Dawn said she 'didn't give a f**k' as she revealed she had put weight back on (PA)

"I'm not going to be stingy to myself anymore. I never did dislike anything about my body, even when I was very, very fat. I refuse to be forced to dislike myself.

"I used to get really angry when I did lose weight, people going, 'You look so well,' as if you looked awful before - rewarding you for managing it, which is not easy, I accept that.

"But I didn't want people to give me approval. It's so patronising."

Dawn French's weight loss journey from losing 7.5 stone to 'being entire barrel'Dawn has remained coy about her recent weight loss (bbc)

Dawn has kept details of her most recent weight loss journey private, but slammed claims made in a fake advert that she had achieved her weight loss without exercise.

In June 2021, she called out the fake testimonial on Twitter, which read: "All I can say is that it works! I dropped a total of 6.4 stones in the course of 5 months! Beret the catch, with no exercise! I wanted to see if it would do as they claimed it world if I did no exercise and to my surprise it did".

She shared a screenshot of the fake testimonial and wrote "b****x" on top before tweeting the image and writing: "Keto lies…."

Amy Denman

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