She’s a national comedy treasure who can make almost anyone laugh, but even Dawn French has her bugbears – and one particular frustration is enough to have her husband spending some time outside. In an exclusive interview with Good Housekeeping, she opened up about the chronic condition that drives her mad – and what it means for her charity executive partner Mark Bignell.
When asked about her biggest pet hate, the 68-year-old responded: “Crunching. I’ve got that thing called misophonia where you can’t bear to hear other people’s chewing noises. My husband, who likes crackers, has to eat them outside.”
While once upon a time, Dawn might have apologised for the inconvenience, she says the most underrated joy is getting older is that you don’t have to people-please quite so much anymore. “Why on earth are we always apologising? ‘Sorry, could you pass me the salt?’ Why is that such a tricky question that intrinsically demands an apology?” she said. “I try not to do it so much now.”
Jonty Davies
Dawn has been thinking a lot about getting older lately. The Vicar of Dibley star has recently published her fifth novel, Enough, about a mentally and physically fit 68-year-old grandmother who gathers her family to tell them that this will be her last day on Earth. Etta has decided she wants to free her family “from the crap to come” and she will therefore be ending her life.
“Etta thinks she’s doing her family a favour by removing the crunchy, spiky, possibly ugly last part of her life from her kids”, Dawn explained in the interview, which is in Good Housekeeping’s July issue. “I’ve got a feeling these thoughts are on people’s minds a lot of the time.”
If it all sounds rather morbid, Dawn’s signature humour is very present throughout, though its themes did, Dawn admitted, have her PA slightly worried for a moment. Dawn writes all her books by hand and each of them are typed up by Sue, Dawn’s beloved PA of 34 years. When Sue was halfway through typing up Enough, she called her up and asked if she was okay.
Jonty Davies
“It was another sign that people will inevitably think, ‘Bloody hell, Dawn French is having a moment.’ But I’m not afraid of what anyone thinks.”
So far, the response to the book has been huge, with readers calling it “absolutely brilliant” and “insightful and empathetic”. Many have called for more laughs from Dawn, which is just as well given she’s working on a second series of her BBC sitcom, Can You Keep a Secret?, as well as finally bringing us that reunion.
If you haven’t already hard, Dawn will be reuniting with her comedy partner in crime Jennifer Saunders to star in panto this Christmas. The pair will play the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella at the London Palladium – and Dawn couldn’t be more thrilled about it.
Jonty Davies
“It will be naughtier than anything I’ve ever done, partly because Julian Clary will be playing the Fairy Godfather and everything he says is loaded with innuendo,” she shared.
“It also means that Jennifer and I will be able to spend all that time together. People used to ask us to do panto in the 1980s, but it wasn’t fun back then the way it is now. The script for Cinderella is genius – it will be a kind of festive variety show.”
Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping UK’s July issue, on sale now. Enough (Penguin Michael Joseph, RRP £22) by Dawn French is out now.
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