For decades, Dawn French has entertained the nation with her hilarious comedy sketches and sharp humor. The 67-year-old actress made her acting debut in Channel 4 series The Comic Strip Presents in 1982 and has since become a British comedy icon.

Dawn represents one half of the comedy duo French and Saunders, which began in 1987 and continued until 1993. It saw Dawn and her best friend Jennifer Saunders create sketches and satires of popular culture of the time .

However, she won the hearts of the nation in the BBC series Vicar of Dibley, which ran for over a decade and featured several Comic Relief specials.

Over the years, Dawn has had a tremendous career and starred in hit films such as Harry Potter, Coraline, The Chronicles of Narnia and Death on the Nile.

As well as writing a series of books, the 67-year-old has been the festive voice of Marks and Spencer’s Christmas advert for the past two years as an animated fairy. But this year, the actress plays herself alongside the festive character.

As the comedy star returns to TV screens once again, we’ve taken a look at Dawn’s life off-screen.

Dawn first met Lenny Henry in the 1980s when they were both on the comedy circuit. In 1984, they married in a grand wedding at Covent Garden in London. During their marriage, the couple quickly became a comedy power couple.

They also adopted a baby girl called Billie in 1991, when she was two weeks old, after struggling to conceive naturally. However, their daughter stays out of the spotlight and is rarely seen in public with her parents.

In 2010, the couple announced they had ended their relationship, marking the end of a 25-year marriage.

At the time, a statement released on behalf of the couple said: “The separation is entirely amicable and they fully intend to maintain their close friendship. Their priority is to commit to the future joint parenthood of their girl.”

Although little was said afterwards, Lenny told the Express in 2016 that they knew it was not possible to continue. He said: “There is usually a situation where one partner wants the marriage to end more than the other.

“I think maybe one of us did it, then the other did it, then the other did it over a period of time and then, in the end, we thought: ‘Oh, actually, maybe we both do’ We knew that was the case. “It’s not possible to continue.”

However, Dawn said there was no animosity between them and they were best friends. Dawn and Lenny are now with other people.

Dawn moved to Cornwall in 2006 to the idyllic village of Fowey and often shared snippets of her rural life on her social media, including dog walks in the countryside and stunning sea photos.

Living in a Grade II listed manor house, which had a total of 15 bedrooms, the estate had magnificent views across the estuary. Dawn moved into the house more than two decades ago with her then-husband Sir Lenny Henry and daughter Billie.

Staying there after her divorce, Dawn’s second husband, Mark Bignall, moved in until the duo decided to sell two years ago.

Wanting to get closer to the Devon border, Dawn is thought to have sold her house for a whopping £6.6million. A friend spoke about the move, saying Dawn hadn’t moved too far.

They said: “Dawn will always love Fowey and spent 15 very happy years there. She will miss all the local people who made her so welcome when she moved to the town,” he reports. Cornwall Live.

In 2014, Dawn underwent a huge transformation when her weight dropped from 19 stone to 11.5. The actress’s radical change was due to a major surgery she had to undergo.

Although many feared the loss was due to her split from Lenny Henry, Dawn said it was a matter of practicality.

At the time, she said: “When I was due to have my hysterectomy, the doctor told me that if I could lose a little weight before the operation, they could do it keyhole and I would gain it back in about three weeks.

“Otherwise it would be a big open operation and three months to recover. So, I started dropping a few rocks.”

Speaking about how she achieved the big loss, Dawn attributed it to a low-calorie diet and more walking.

She added: “I’ve lost seven and a half stone. I could have a keyhole operation. Brilliant. That’s all it was, convenient.”

Four years ago, Dawn spoke about the need to gain some weight back, admitting she was “back to being a whole barrel” during her French and Saunders podcast.

Even if the actress did not seem in phase with the change, because she no longer wanted to be hard on herself.

She said: “I don’t care, I really don’t, as long as I can walk. I’m not going to be stingy with myself anymore. I’ve never hated anything about my body, even when I was very, very big. I refuse to be forced to hate myself.

“I used to get really angry when I lost weight, people would say to me, ‘You look so beautiful,’ like you looked horrible before – rewarding you for managing to manage it , which is not easy, I accept that, but I don’t want people to approve of me.