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Amy Denman & Siobhan Macdonald

Inside Dawn French's incredible 7.5 stone weight loss journey as she debuts new look

Dawn French has gone back to basics as she stunned on the red carpet debuting her signature bob for the first time in years.

The 65-year-old comedian, who is best known for her roles in The Vicar of Dibley and Absolutely Fabulous, stunned as she walked along the red carpet at the opening night of Oklahoma! at London's Wyndham's Theatre. All eyes were on the comic as she debuted the return of her iconic hairstyle, as well as flaunting her slimmer figure.

The actress was best known for her iconic dark locks during her time playing Geraldine Granger but has now brought back the iconic fringe as she embraces her silver colouring. She previously said her silver tones came through after she "couldn't be bothered" with the upkeep of her dark brown locks.

As well as her iconic hairdo, fans couldn't take their eyes of the French and Saunders stars impressive weight loss. While Dawn previously spoke openly about her decision to lose weight, she has remained tight lipped in more recent years, reports the Mirror.

In 2014, Dawn revealed she was inspired to lose weight after facing a cancer scare. She explained: "I became quite ill about three years ago, with all kinds of hell kicking off in here, where I keep my lady plumbing."

Dawn French as the Vicar of Dibley (BBC)

She was warned by medics that in order to have minimal recovery time from her operation, she would need to lose weight. After that, the TV personality took walking everywhere and spoke about eating 'joyless low-cal' food in a bid to drop some weight.

She explained in 2014: "I eventually went to hospital, and my doc was so convinced I had uterine cancer, that he ordered a second biopsy to be sure, when the first one was clear. Even before the result of the second one, I decided to be done with my old enemy, my defunct reproductive stuff. It was curtailing my life."

Dawn debuted her gorgeous charcoal bob at the Oklahoma! opening night (Getty Images)

She added: "So, my womb and I parted company. Goodbye. 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 ‘key-hole’, and I would recover in three weeks or so.

"Otherwise it would be big open surgery, and three months to recover. So, I set about dropping a few stone. No magic wand, just tiny, joyless low-cal eating and lots more walking for weeks and weeks. It was grim. I lost seven and a half stone. I could have the keyhole surgery. Great. That’s all it was, practical."

However, six years later Dawn admitted she didn't "give a f**k" that she regained weight. In 2020, she said on her podcast French and Saunders: T**ting About: "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."

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