...but she's 'sacked' controversial Barry Humphries

More than six years after announcing her retirement Dame Edna Everage has announced a new tour of Australia in September and October.

But the housewife superstar says has fired her ‘manager’ Barry Humphries.

The man behind the creation has been under fire for his comments about transgender women, which led to his name being dropped from the main award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

It stems from a 2016 interview when Humphries referred to gender re-assignment surgery as 'self mutilation’. He has also criticised Caitlyn Jenner as a 'publicity-seeking ratbag" for wanting to steal the limelight' from the other women in her family.

However, in Dame Edna’s world, Humhpries was dropped for telling lies about her retirement – and for having his hand in the till.

She said: ‘One of the reasons I am adored pretty much worldwide is that I've always told you the truth; mostly the truth about yourselves, and even sometimes about me.

‘However, this is an apology. It's an apology for once telling you a wicked fib: a porkie, a cruel deceitful lie. I told you I had retired. That was a few years ago and when my announcement got around the globe a lot of people "freaked out" to employ a phrase I never use. Some people actually lost the will to live. Some even self-harmed!"’

Of Humphries embezzlement, the gladioli-waving entertainer said:  My new team of advisors said I should close down all my companies, even my charitable foundation Friends of the Prostate, and re-start my career on a clean page.

‘That's what I'm doing. That explains my so-called 'retirement' and withdrawal from public life. Now I'm reborn, fit as a fiddle, and rid of the leech who tormented me for so long. So, Possums, please do come and say hello to me. It would be lovely to see your faces again.’

Paul Dainty, of promoters TEG Dainty added: ‘Dame Edna Everage is a great Australian export, an iconic performer, artist and star of stage and screen. 

She has toured the world since the mid-1950s and we are delighted she has emerged from retirement so we can welcome her home again."

Her Australian tour, My Gorgeous Life, kicks off in Canberra on September 17. There is no news yet on any UK dates.

Published: 5 May 2019