Dawn French says she’s piled 7 stone back on but ‘doesn’t give a f**k’

Dawn French has declared that she “doesn’t give a f**k” after piling 7 stone back on.

The Vicar of Dibley star, 62, even went as far as calling herself “a barrel” after putting the pounds back on after her major weight loss in 2014.

Opening up about her changing size in in her new podcast French & Saunders: Titting About, Dawn explained: “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.”

She went on: “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.”

The actress previously decided to dramatically overhaul her lifestyle since suffering a health scare in 2014.

She initially sparked concern when she began losing weight that year, with many speculating it was down to her devastating split from her husband of 25 years, Lenny Henry.

However, Dawn – who found fame alongside comedy sidekick Jennifer Saunders – previously revealed doctors ordered her to lose weight ahead of a major opertaion.

“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 keyhole, and I would recover in three weeks or so,” she previously said.

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

And she didn’t cut corners, revealing she took up walking and started counting calories.

“No magic wand, just tiny, joyless low-cal eating and lots more walking for weeks and weeks,” she said.

“It was grim. I lost seven-and-a-half stone. I could have the keyhole surgery. Great. That’s all it was, practical.”

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