Dawn French is one of the nation's most loved comedians, but away from the spotlight, she leads a rather private family life with her husband Mark Bignell and her daughter, Billie.
The 66-year-old shares daughter Billie, 32, with her ex-husband Lenny Henry. The couple adopted Billie when she was just two weeks old. In an interview with HELLO! in October 2021, the actress spoke about their unbreakable bond. "My biggest test and my biggest joy," she said of her child.
Dawn recently opened up about the jaw-dropping story of when she met her daughter Billie for the first time on Elizabeth Day's How To Fail podcast.
"The minute we met her and she came into our lives - I think a week afterwards - you just hit the ground running," she said.
"What you don't have [when you adopt] is the preparation time that a pregnant person has. You don't have nine months of thinking about this."
"Suddenly there's a phone call. And it happened right in the middle of when we were about to make a French and Saunders series - we had the studios booked, we had the directors booked, we had all our crew booked, we were writing the series ready to go into the studio."
Dawn went on to reveal that her "darling" co-star Jennifer Saunders was her rock throughout the sudden process, covering for her, keeping everything private, and agreeing to use the studio time to write her own sitcom - which is where the iconic series Absolutely Fabulous was born.
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Speaking about her daughter, the Vicar of Dibley star shared with HELLO!: "[Our bond] 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."
Billie has kept largely out of the limelight throughout her life, despite having famous parents. In 2020, she was given a suspended prison sentence for harassing her ex-boyfriend - something that has no doubt contributed to her "fraught" relationship with her parents.
“If the love wasn’t there I don’t know how we’d survive all this other stuff," Dawn candidly revealed of her daughter.
Keep scrolling to see the extremely rare photos of Dawn and Lenny's daughter…
Billie was born in 1991
Dawn marked her daughter's 30th with a previously unseen photograph from when she was a baby.
"This lil wriggler is 30yrs old today. My extraordinary ray," penned Dawn. "My greatest challenge & greatest blessing. Happy Birthday beautiful girl."
Billie grew up on the set of Vicar of Dibley
Much of Billie's exciting childhood was spent behind the scenes as her mother filmed the Vicar of Dibley.
Here she is on the set of the BBC drama which aired from 1994 - 2000.
Dawn and Lenny have many famous friends
In 2005, Dawn, Lenny and Billie were guests at Jools Holland's wedding to Christabel McEwen.
Billie marked her 32nd birthday in 2023
In April this year, Dawn treated fans to an incredibly rare photograph of her daughter. Protecting her privacy, the comedian shared a snap of her daughter's face hidden by a pastel bouquet.
While Billie's face was hidden, the 32-year-old looked stylish in a forest green hoodie which she wore with the hood up.
Dawn paid tribute to her daughter with a touching caption. Alongside the snap, she sweetly penned: "My beautiful girl."
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