Dawn O'Porte hung up on her friend when she told her she was engaged

Dawn O'Porter has revealed she hung up the phone on her best friend when she told her she was engaged.

The author and director, 45, made the candid confession whilst appearing on The Mail's The Life Of Bryony podcast.

Speaking to Bryony Gordon, she opened up about her female friendships.

'We didn't grow up with great examples of female friendship at all,' she said.

'I think you realise especially you can have a really happy marriage and be really close to your husband.

'But what's going on beyond that in your WhatsApp groups, in your girls' nights, in your lunches, that almost is what holds you up constantly.

'It's a different kind of conversation. I can't imagine a day without connecting with them.

'It's almost like an addiction. It's so lovely.'

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Recalling a time with one of her best friends, she said : 'Louise, who is like my ride or die, she's the one that lives in Australia, and we met when we were 19 at college in Liverpool and she'd gone to school with the boys that I lived with and so she used to come up at the weekends and we just completely fell in love with each other.

'When she told me that she got engaged, I hung up.

'I was, it's like I've been shot. I was just like, Okay, um, great. And I just hung up the phone and I remember standing in my kitchen being like that was an awful thing to have done.

'I just thought life as I know will never be the same again. I've lost her.

'After about 10 minutes, I called her back, really sorry, I'm so happy for you.

'I got engaged a few months later and I called her, and she hung up.

'But nothing really changed. She's still my ride or die. Everything's fine. But at that age, I found the idea of losing her absolutely terrifying. I didn't understand what marriage would do to the friendship.'

Dawn and actor Chris O'Dowd, 45, have been married since 2012, tying the knot in an intimate ceremony after first meeting at her 30th birthday party in 2009.

In September she revealed they had recently decided to return to the UK with their two sons after living stateside for 16 years.

At the time Dawn admitted the gun culture in America is 'terrifying' and that she began to find living their with young children 'really unsettling'.

'I can't deny that for me personally the anxiety of America was becoming quite unbearable,' she said.

'The guns thing is really terrifying and very real in the schools.

'One of the school mums once said to me 'You know if your kid is going on a playdate you have to call and say 'Have you got a gun in the house''. And I thought, I don't want this. I don't want to make that call and I don't want someone to ask me that question.'

Ever feel like life is a bit…too much? Bestselling author and journalist Bryony Gordon is here to ditch the shame and dive headfirst into life’s messier bits. Search for The Life of Bryony wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes released every Monday and Friday.