Dawn French declares ageing is a ‘privilege’ which has caused her to edit out ‘eejits’ from her life

Dawn French has declared ageing ‘is a privilege’ which has caused her to edit out ‘eejits’ from her life.

In a new interview, the comedian, 63, admitted the process has seen her ‘teeth yellow, chin sag and become fatter’, but she has insisted maturing ‘ain’t so bad’.

The actress, who is set to reprise her role as Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley Christmas special later this month, explained: ‘It’s a privilege to get older, but it’s not for wusses. Things go a bit wrong.’ 

Dawn detailed the changes she’s experienced since she’s grown older in this week’s Radio Times.

The TV star said: ‘Your rheumatoid arthritis knee stops you walking your dog a long way every morning, you know you’ve got to have a little op on that at some point, and you’ve got to take six weeks off…

‘But ultimately, it ain’t so bad. Your teeth are a bit yellower, your chin has sagged, you’re fatter, you’re greyer. 

‘The only thing is, I feel the tick tock a little bit. I am quicker to edit out eejits from my life, because I haven’t got the hours. That’s the only grumpy part of me, it’s just to do with time.’ 

The media personality also addressed her portrayal as female vicar Geraldine on the festive edition of the BBC sitcom, which will air weekly with 10 minute episodes over the festive period.

Dawn shared: ‘People know Dibley as an ensemble piece, they inherit all the other people, even though it’s just me, talking.

‘In a funny way, the audience becomes the other characters. They are the heart of Dibley. They’re who I’m addressing directly.’ 

During the coronavirus lockdown, the author spent a lot of her time writing her new book Because Of You, as well as catching up on RuPaul’s Drag Race with her adopted daughter Billie, 29, and her husband Mark Bignell’s daughter.

The funnywoman recalled: ‘Three or four nights a week, we’d go into the little back den, and we’d have some interesting outfits on, a bit of a feather boa. We had face masks, we did our beauty regimes, and Husband brought us snacks.’  

Earlier this month, Dawn revealed she would eat curry for breakfast in quarantine earlier this year. 

The stage star – who famously lost over seven and a half stone stone in 2014 – shared how she’d fuel her mornings with the hearty meal, before writing her novel Because Of You.

In recent weeks, the Vicar Of Dibley star has declared she refuses to ‘dislike herself’ and is happy as long as she can keep walking after claiming she’s ‘back to being an entire barrel’ but ‘doesn’t give a f**k’.

On her work schedule, the thespian said at this year’s Hay Winter Festival: ‘In lockdown, I used to have curry for breakfast and it would go on too long. I am in my office at 9.30am and I write until lunch.’

‘I try to put my phone off when I am writing and I try to keep going until 5pm. I have a Protestant work ethic that comes from my parents’, she added, according to The Sun. 

The writer dramatically starting losing weight in 2011 following her split from Lenny Henry and six years ago, she revealed that it was so she could have keyhole surgery for a secret hysterectomy after a cancer scare. 

Dawn spoke about her weight gain on her podcast French and Saunders: T**ting About alongside Jennifer Saunders, sharing: ‘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. 

‘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.’