Dawn French, 68, is back to make audiences laugh in 2026 with a charming new sitcom, Can You Keep a Secret?. Dawn plays the recently widowed Debbie Fendon who is keeping a major secret – her husband William isn’t actually dead, rather the couple have decided to go along with the unfortunate turn of events everyone believes so they can collect the life insurance payout.
Dawn has kept viewers entertained for years with roles in The Vicar of Dibley, French and Saunders and Absolutely Fabulous, to name a few. But off-screen, she’s kept her family life much more private. The actress is a mother to a rarely-seen daughter with her famous ex, and has been married to her second second for more than a decade.
Here’s all you need to know about the star’s life away from the big screen.
© Ken McKay/ITV/ShutterstockHer husband Mark Bignell
Dawn has been married to charity executive Mark Bignell since 2013. The couple swapped vows during an intimate ceremony held in the pretty coastal town of Newquay in Cornwall, where they live now.
The couple hired the exclusive Scarlet Hotel to house guests, including singer Alison Moyet, filmmaker Richard Curtis and Dawn’s comedy partner Jennifer Saunders.
“Like the best things, it came out of the blue,” Dawn told us exclusively of her relationship with Mark.
“I didn’t think I would commit to another whole life with somebody else, but I couldn’t not with this man.
“He’s got a different kind of energy and he makes me think about a lot of things. He’s very emotionally grown-up – he’s just new, different. He’s incredibly cheerful and he loves being a dad. My dad loved being a dad and that’s the kind of man I respect a lot.”
The pair keep their relationship very low-key, with Dawn rarely posting him to her social media, and when she does, it’s been obscure photos. In 2023, she shared a pic of the back of Mark dressed up as Santa at Christmastime.
“It just so happens that I am married to Santa. Here he is making a house call this evening, which is kind of him because he IS quite busy…” Dawn wrote on Instagram.
© GettyHer ex-husband Lenny Henry
Before she tied the knot with her husband Mark, Dawn was married to fellow actor, Lenny Henry. Dawn met Lenny, 61, on the alternative comedy circuit and the couple wed in a London ceremony in 1984.
The couple were married for 25 years before they announced their separation in 2010. Dawn and Lenny stated that their split was amicable, and their divorce was finalised a year later.
Speaking about their relationship post-split, Dawn told us exclusively in 2015: “Lenny and I are good friends. We are five years on [from their split in 2010] so, you know, we co-parent our daughter.
“We talk all the time about that. We have a healthy respect for each other, but you have to move into your new lives and you have to have separate stuff.
“That was the hard thing to do – to make sure you move on properly, both of you, and happily. But we care for each other and we are kind to each other.”
© Jamie Tregidgo/WireImageHer daughter Billie
Dawn is also a mother! The actress and her ex Lenny adopted a daughter, Billie, in 1991, who as of January 2026 is reportedly around 35 years old. Dawn revealed to us in 2021 that her bond with her daughter is “unbreakable”
“We have the same amount of mother/daughter friction that any mum and daughter have, it’s no more or less. But I’ve learnt a lot about her. And she’s learnt a lot about me.”
Her brother Gary French and their late parents
Dawn was born in Wales to parents Felicity and Denys and has an older brother, Gary. At the age of 19, Dawn was left heartbroken when her dad, who was an RAF pilot, died in 1977.
Pictured is her late father Denys. Dawn shared the throwback photo in 2022 to Instagram to mark Father’s Day with a special tribute to her dad: “Love you and miss you very much”.
© InstagramHer Jack Russell Terrier
Rounding out Dawn’s family is her adorable Jack Russell Terrier who she has posted quite a few photos of to her social media.
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