Dawn French is loved up with her second husband.
The comedienne married Mark Bignell back in 2013 and the pair are still going strong – here’s the lowdown on the Vicar of Dibley star’s man.
Who is Dawn French’s husband Mark Bignell?
Mark Bignell is Dawn French’s husband of seven years.
Mark, 55, is a therapist who co-founded charity Hamoaze House, alongside Dawn’s late mother.
The charity helps recovering drug abusers and alcoholics reintegrate into society.
Dawn told Saga magazine: “His work is quiet and understated – and it’s best it remains like that.”
The charity launched a store in West Hoe in 2018 in Plymouth.
Dawn and Mark live together in Dawn’s £3million home in Fowey, Cornwall with their dog Goodie and cat Mowzer.
Mark has been married twice before and has a daughter and a son from previous relationships.
How did Dawn and Mark meet?
Dawn and Mark met through Dawn’s late mother, Roma French, who founded the charity of which Mark is now chief executive .
Dawn told Saga magazine that Mark initially didn’t know who she was.
She said “I’m not boasting, but you’d actually have to have not watched television for the past 20 years to have avoided me, and he’d managed to do just that.”
The Vicar of Dibley star was previously married to Sir Lenny Henry for 25 years but the pair split in 2010.
The actress told Closer magazine that she hadn’t been looking for love when she met Mark.
She said: “I 100% thought I would be on my own – but that didn’t bother me. I was enjoying having time to myself. I thought it would be sad if I didn’t have a cuddle with somebody again… but I didn’t need to live vicariously through a man and I didn’t need a knight in shining armour, I’m not sentimental like that.
“And then of course that is when I met him, just a couple of days later.”
The other half of Dawn’s comedy duo, Jennifer Saunders, said she approves of Mark: “I’ve met her new bloke and he’s completely delightful.”
When did they marry?
Dawn and Mark wed in an intimate ceremony in 2013.
The reception was held at the Scarlet Hotel near the seaside town of Newquay, Cornwall.
The newly-weds celebrated with around 70 guests.
Guests included singer Alison Moyet, filmmaker Richard Curtis and Dawn’s comedy partner Jennifer Saunders.
