Dawn French has once again wowed her fans with her latest transformation as she took to the red carpet debuting a brand new grey fringed bob and incredible trimmed-down figure.

The Vicar of Dibley star was snapped smiling at the camera as she attended the opening night of Oklahoma in London’s West End.

And while many of her fans were quick to point out how beautiful she looked that evening, the star’s weight loss was actually brought on by a worrying health issue.

The star’s dramatic weight loss had initially led to speculation that the French had a gastric band, but the 65-year-old soon shut down those rumours and revealed her weight loss was due to a cancer scare.

During her one-woman show, French exclaimed that she had gone to see a doctor after feeling “all kinds of hell” in her reproductive organs.

“I eventually went to hospital, and my doc was so convinced I had uterine cancer, that he ordered a second biopsy to be sure, when the first one was clear,” she said.

“Even before the result of the second one, I decided to be done with my old enemy, my defunct reproductive stuff. It was curtailing my life

“When I was due to have my hysterectomy the doc told me that if I could lose some weight before the op, they would be able to do it via ‘key-hole’, and I would recover in three weeks or so.

“Otherwise it would be big open surgery, and three months to recover. So, I set about dropping a few stone.

“No magic wand, just tiny, joyless low-cal eating and lots more walking for weeks and weeks. It was grim. I lost seven and a half stone. I could have the keyhole surgery. Great. That’s all it was, practical.”

French had previously spoken about how her weight loss has changed her life, reportedly saying: “I’m at a very happy part of my life now. I take vitamins, I exercise, I live in Cornwall – life is good in many ways and I think it shows.”

This also wouldn’t be the first time French’s transformation has made headlines. In October 2021, she said goodbye to her signature dark brown bob in favour of a bold new hairstyle, opting for a grey, short-cropped look, shortly after announcing that she was embracing her greys as they began to emerge.