[1] The couple have two daughters, Hadley and Molly, and Gerrard has two children from her first marriage, Edgar and Anna.

In November 2014 her father John Gerrard died, his dementia having deteriorated significantly during a five-week stay in hospital for an unrelated problem and with very restricted visiting by his family.

As a result of this Gerrard launched John's Campaign for extended visiting rights for carers of patients with dementia.

He was, like his two younger brothers Patrick and Karl, educated at William Ellis secondary school in north London before studying English literature at Oxford University.

While at Oxford University, French won a young writers’ contest organised by Vogue, and subsequently became a journalist.