Girl Talk: Dawn French is fan-fatty-fabulous!

I adore Dawn French. And not just for her comedic abilities, which have kept me entertained via The Vicar Of Dibley on the odd Saturday night (okay, frequent Saturday night) that I stay in or for her frequently entertaining, jovial memoir, Dear Fatty.

I adore French because she refuses to go down the well-trodden celebrity path to dieting hell. Actually, she's been there, done that, and says it wasn't fun: "Losing weight made me miserable and I was so cross with myself afterwards," she tells Woman's Weekly magazine.

French is decidedly happy-fat, as apposed to "skinny fat", the horrible and super-helpful term coined to describe female celebrities who look thin but whose lack of muscle tone makes them internally fat, or "croissant fat", which The Daily Mail believes a "distinctly chubbier" Britney Spears to be after she dared take time off to eat and drink "without worrying about the effects on her figure" in her touring downtime (shame on you, Ms. Spears!).

French, 51, says, "I can honestly say that it doesn't bother me, though I do worry that I'll get so comfortably fat that I won't be able to walk any more. Sometimes I'll get out of bed and think, "Oooh, I need to do some exercise" - but that's probably about once a year, if that. I think the medical term for my condition is called "body blindness". I may ultimately regret not looking after myself more, and plenty of people would line up to tell me that, but it doesn't concern me."

French lost weight prior to marrying her husband, Lenny Henry, at age 24: "When we got married I lost a lot of weight in a very short time, all because I panicked that I shouldn't be a fat bride. But Len took me to one side and said, "Who are you doing this for? I hope it's not me because it's not what I want...My husband's Jamaican and comes from a family of big women. For him it's the norm and thin women are a turn-off."

Of course, French's laissez faire approach to diet and exercise enrages the anti-fat pundits and obesity alarmists, who have responded to her comments via The Daily Mail warning "chubby celebrities [are] fuelling the obesity crisis and setting a poor example", as well as running the risk of developing diabetes, cancer and other weight-related problems.

I can see the merit in these arguments, as what are we without our health, but it saddens me to think we can't just let French be. Particularly as she seems intent on loving herself just as she is. In mental and emotional health terms, she appears to be peak condition!

In response to the Daily Mail story, Malcom from south of Australia's middle (Adelaide) sums up my thinking on this subject:
"One of the most attractive women in the world is Dawn French and Lenny Henry is one very lucky man. Dawn is a wonderful role model for anyone who needs self esteem and the joy of living. I have read her recent book and joy is the word that Dawn evokes about her life and her attitude to those around her. Thank God for people like Dawn French."

Indeed, thank God. Because while the rest of the world is on a diet, French is flying the fan-fatty-fabulous flag.

Without women like French speaking out about self-acceptance, who do we have to remind us that there's more to a woman than the size and shape of her body? That a celebrity might have something more to contribute to the world than dieting tips and biceps shaped by Tracy Anderson?

Jesus said: "I came so that you could have life and have it to the full" (John 10:10). I think he may have been onto something there.

There's a lot of money to be made ensuring that women remain discontented with their bodies, but the Dawn French's of the world aren't buying in. They're buying buckets of ice-cream instead.

Yours truly,

Girl With a Satchel