Sir Lenny Henry opens up on painful divorce from Dawn French – and how their fame made it far worse
The comedian spoke about the end of his 25-year marriage to Dawn
SIR Lenny Henry has opened up about his split from Dawn French and admitted he felt like he was living in a "goldfish bowl".
The 58-year-old split from Dawn after 25 years of marriage in 2010.
Lenny reveals their split was mutual but says it was made harder by living in the public eye.
He said: “It is a strange job, showbiz, because you are in the public eye. You are in a goldfish bowl. We just got through it like every family does.”
When asked if their divorce was painful, Lenny admitted it was, telling The Express: “There's generally a situation where one partner wants the marriage to finish more than the other.
“I think maybe one of us did, then the other one did, and then the other did over a period of time and then in the end we thought, 'Oh, actually maybe we both do'.
“We knew it wasn't possible to continue.”
The couple have an adopted daughter and have managed to remain friends.
After their break up, Dawn revealed how close the couple still were and revealed they still deeply cared for one another.
She said: “This had been a very happy marriage for a very long time and you don't stop looking after each other or caring for each other, whatever has happened.
“It was extremely upsetting at the time but I have clearly moved on and so has he.”
Lenny's successful actor career saw him knighted last year and now he's set to appear in the third and final series of Broadchurch.
Previously Lenny had named the hit drama in his mocking list of shows that lacked any diversity.
He said: “The evolution of black and ethnic minority involvement in British drama seems to lurch one step forward and two steps back, a bit like John Sergeant in Strictly Come Dancing.
“Except he had a job at the end.
“In Broad-church, at least the boyfriend of the deceased is mixed race, so there’s someone in there.”
Former Corrie star Roy Hudd. who played Archie Shuttleworth on the cobbles, has also joined the all-star cast of regulars from the first two series.
Got a story? email digishowbiz@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 02077824220