Dawn French says racism against ex Lenny Henry was so bad police had to move in
Dawn French has recalled the horrific racist abuse against ex-husband Sir Lenny Henry she witnessed during their marriage
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Dawn French has recalled the monstrous racism she witnessed during her marriage to Sir Lenny Henry.
The comedian, 63, was married to Sir Lenny, 62, for 25 years until their split in 2010, telling that she “couldn’t believe continual racism that happens in [Sir Lenny’s] life.”
And one incident of racist abuse even saw police officers move into their marital home.
Dawn and Sir Lenny were one of the UK’s highest-profile interracial couples, and the latter has often been vocal about the appalling racism he’s experienced.
“I had never experienced anything like that until I met him and I just couldn’t believe the continual racism that happens in his life, the casual, insidious racism which I found really offensive,” Dawn explained on Times Radio.
“But then the big giant ‘let’s smear s**t on your door and try to set fire to your house’ kind of racism and I was so angry about it and that’s what got us through it…”
Dawn and Sir Lenny share a daughter called Billie, 29.
She added: “For a while, we had the police living inside our home when some people had scratched really racist slogans on every panel on two cars outside our house.
“And now I have a mixed race daughter and I see what she experiences, I see it. But she’s very strong and she can sniff a racist at 200 yards and takes a nice steep swerve to the left.”
Sir Lenny opened up in his memoir about how he’d employed humour as a youngster to fend off racist abuse.
“For a brief period, I’d have a fight every single day with this kid,” the legendary comic wrote.
“He’d say hateful things like, ‘Hey d**, hey n*****.’ Every day, the same greeting as usual.
“The particular route I chose one morning would lay the foundation for my career.
“I said something like, ‘Not this again Waverly. Ya must really fancy me cause you’re always trying to get me to roll on the ground with ya. You hit me, I hit you, we fall on the ground and hug. Why don’t we go and have dinner and a movie first? You could buy me a ring – mek it official?'”
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