Dawn French reveals why she never has sex with the lights off

The Vicar of Dibley star talks body confidence, 'sexual presence' and wearing hot pants...

Dawn French has never been one to shy away from the spotlight - something that her latest admission, that she 'Has never been somebody to have sex with the lights off', proves.

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, the 58 year old has spoken about her bedroom body confidence, and despite 'Never having done an interview without somebody asking about her weight', the mother-of-one, who co-parents her adopted daughter Billie with ex-husband Lenny Henry, said she has no problem with stripping off.

'I don't mind getting my gear off, I never have, and I think, "Why is this different?" And all I could think of was that in my family this was not an issue.'

In an interview with the Telegraph in 2014, the comedian credited her father with building her self-confidence, remembering when she went to a party in hot pants as a teenager.

'I've always been a big girl and shouldn't really have been wearing hot pants,' she explained.

Instead of stopping her, as many parents would be tempted to, her father said 'I was completely beautiful and [told me] how amazing I looked and warned that I would get loads of attention from boys and I ought to choose the best. I went on cloud nine to that party and actually I've never left that party. It was armour.'

Whilst the Vicar of Dibley star understands that many women suffer with body-confidence issues, she admits she has never been in that 'hellish place' herself.

She added; 'When I think about, active, kind of sexually interested girls, I immediately think about curvy girls. It doesn't occur to me not to think about that.'

In 2011 the Welsh-born actress had to lose seven stone for a hysterectomy operation, after a cancer scare.

Dawn has recently remarried charity director, Mark Bignell, after splitting from fellow comedian Lenny Henry in 2010, after 26 years together.

She concluded; 'I am in a completely new chapter of my life.'