LENNY HENRY IS MY BEST FRIEND SAYS DAWN FRENCH

Dawn French says she ended up best friends with Lenny Henry

Tuesday July 27,2010

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DAWN French has finally spoken about her split with Lenny Henry, revealing they tried therapy to make their relationship work but ended up “best of friends”.

The 52-year-old comedian-actress and her husband, 51, announced the end of their marriage in April.

Aside from one incident in 1999 in which comedian Lenny reportedly spent the night in a hotel room with a fan, they were thought to have one of the strongest marriages in showbusiness.

But the pair, who have a 19-year-old daughter Billie, went their separate ways and now Dawn is ready to spill the beans.

“Remarkably we seem to have shifted with relative ease from a 25-year marriage to a lasting friendship,” she tells Radio Times. “I am amazed by us. There is no war. We have turned out to be the best of friends.”

She says the “marriage wobble” spurred her and Lenny to have counselling but it made them see things differently and they split.

“We went to therapy for a few months. We went separately. It gives you an interesting way to come together with new ideas.”

Part of the process involved delving into relationship secrets. “I think everybody has to do that, empty your drawers out. I always want to empty my drawers. I like to clear the air, to get the cards on the table, even before people are ready to.”

Dawn admits the changes in her life have taken some getting used to. “I think a lot about my future. This is such a huge time of change for me. Maybe that’s what we do in our fifties.”

She is keeping herself busy with her new BBC2 comedy drama series Roger And Val Have Just Got In, in which she stars with Alfred Molina, set to air next month. She is also writing a novel.