Dawn French shares touching tribute to her late dad as she remembers him on Father’s Day

’44 years without you’: Dawn French shares a touching tribute to her late dad Denys on Father’s Day after his tragic suicide when she was just 19

  • For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details 

Dawn French has uploaded a touching tribute to her late father Denys, 44 years after his death. 

Taking to Instagram on Father’s Day, the actress shared a photo with her 135,000 followers of her younger self alongside her dad and told her followers she still misses him ‘a lot.’

In the picture, shared by the Vicar of Dibley star, 63, Dawn can be seen sitting on a wall beside her father Denys.

‘Miss you a lot’: Dawn French shared a throwback snap and touching tribute on Instagram on Sunday to her late dad as she remembers him on Father’s Day

Penning a short message to her father, Dawn wrote: ’44 years without you but miss you a lot. Especially on Fathers Day.’

Dawn has previously spoken about her father, who took his own life at the age of 45 in 1977 when she was aged 19.

Appearing on the Happy Place podcast back in 2018, Dawn said her father’s death made her question her own mortality.

Emotional: Taking to Instagram on Sunday to remember her father on Father's Day by sharing a throwback photo with her 135,000 followers

Emotional: Taking to Instagram on Sunday to remember her father on Father’s Day by sharing a throwback photo with her 135,000 followers

She said: ‘Until quite recently, I think I’ve always thought that I wouldn’t make old bones.’ 

She added: ‘Being 19 and losing your dad made me think, ‘Oh God maybe we don’t live very long’.

‘So I grasped any opportunity I could, but I was aware that I thought, ‘I need to get old enough to grow my daughter in to her twenties at least, then she’d manage without me after that’.’

Remembering: Penning a short message to her father, Dawn wrote: '44 years without you but miss you a lot. Especially on Fathers Day'

Remembering: Penning a short message to her father, Dawn wrote: ’44 years without you but miss you a lot. Especially on Fathers Day’

However, Dawn also said that she realised how harmful those thoughts could be.

‘I was thinking like that, which is ridiculous,’ she said. ‘It’s possibly to do with losing my dad so early. 

‘You know, thinking life is a bit fragile and it can be a bit temporary. And we’ve just got to be mindful of that.’

It comes after Dawn ditched her trademark style in favour of a bold new look to embrace the fact that she’s going grey.

'Happily welcoming the grey': Dawn recently revealed she's ditched her trademark dark bob for lighter locks and a dramatic undercut

‘Happily welcoming the grey’: Dawn recently revealed she’s ditched her trademark dark bob for lighter locks and a dramatic undercut 

The actress took to social media to share her hair transformation with her followers.

In the first picture, Dawn showed off the natural colour transformation. 

Even more dramatically, in the second picture, Dawn lifted up her locks to reveal her brand new undercut – with the silver colouring in line with her approach to embrace going grey.

Captioning her two new photos, Dawn wrote: ‘Going lighter bit by bit to happily welcome the grey… with an undercut surprise..! Hello there woman in her 60s….’

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details 

Now: Dawn showed off the colour transformation of her hair after opting for a much lighter brunette shade

In character: When starring in the Vicar of Dibley, Dawn also had her darker hair (pictured in 1994)

Now and then: Dawn showed off the colour transformation of her hair after opting for a much lighter brunette shade, a far cry from her trademark dark locks 

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