Davina McCall looks as though she’s having the time of her life. “Haha – can you tell?” she asks HELLO! with a carefree laugh.
The popular presenter always seems positive, on and off screen, but there’s something about the 57-year-old that’s distinctly lighter than when we last met, a few months ago.
It could be thanks to the epic karaoke sessions she’s been enjoying with her partner, celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas, or the fact that she’s back at work, on forthcoming BBC1 show Stranded on Honeymoon Island. “I love love,” she says of hosting her latest relationship TV show.
Or perhaps her cheerful mood is due to her return to fitness training, in preparation for a 5km run in aid of The Lady Garden Foundation’s Family Challenge.
It is, however, none of these. The main reason for her energy boost is a recent MRI check-up scan, which revealed that the brain tumour found during a wellness check in August 2023 has officially left the building and will not be back.
© DAN KENNEDY“I couldn’t celebrate being better until I knew there was nothing left in there,” she says in this exclusive interview. “So this was really good news.”
Her trademark smile has never faltered during the past six months, since her surgeon, Mr Kevin O’Neill, performed a life-saving operation to remove the rare tumour – a 0.5in colloid cyst of a type that is found in only three in a million people, and which was dangerously positioned in the centre of her brain.
Before the procedure, she managed to make light of the situation by throwing a party for the tumour, which she had named Jeffrey. Yet behind the scenes, Davina was carrying the weight of fear that the surgery might not have worked.
© DAN KENNEDY“I was very, very nervous,” she says of returning to the hospital where she had undergone the operation, for her check-up. “I went back to the fourth floor, where I had been operated on, to try to let go of a little bit of the experience.
“I knew that if there was anything left, it would regrow and I would have to get it taken out, and I needed to prepare myself for that. So I hadn’t allowed myself to celebrate; I was just waiting.”
Thankfully, Kevin called her during her taxi ride back to the train station with the news she had been praying for.
© Jeff Spicer/Getty Images“He said: ‘I wanted to let you know that I’ve seen the scan and it looks like you’ve never had an operation.’ Oh God; I sobbed like a baby,” Davina says, vividly recalling the moment she was given the all-clear.
The star’s news was a huge relief not only for her, but also for her support network, including her stepmother Gaby, who helped care for Davina during her convalescence, and her partner Michael, who kept her spirits up with silly videos.
Also there for her, of course, were her children: Holly, 23, who lives in Manchester with her boyfriend, Tilly, 21, who has moved to Australia, and Chester, 18, who is on the cusp of flying the nest after he finishes his A-levels this summer.
© InstagramThe pair have been up and down the country looking at universities, ready for Chester’s next step, but Davina feels that he’s likely to head off on some adventures following his exams. How does she feel about having an empty nest?
“Chester has itchy feet and wants to travel the world, and I’d never stop him. I miss them, right? Like Holly and Tilly not being here; I obviously miss them,” she says.
“But I would much rather my kids leave home and are confident and happy enough to not look back at me crying or feel that they have to come home because I’m in some way needy. I really would hate that.
“I’m proud of them because they’re all in solid, happy places and are confident enough to go and live their best lives, but they still enjoy hanging out with us.”
© Getty ImagesThat much was clear when the family headed to Ibiza last summer and went raving together. But then everything Davina and Michael do seems to be one big, fun party.
The pair got together in 2019, having known each other for more than 20 years; Michael was Davina’s hairdresser on Big Brother. “We just have a really good time together,” she says.
Next up, Davina will be hosting Stranded on Honeymoon Island, the latest in a long line of relationship shows. She recorded it after her operation, but had to beg the production company to let her fly out to the exotic location to film the ending.
“It was absolutely amazing, but I’m not sure how much I can say,” she says.
Did she get any honeymoon ideas for her and Michael? The last time HELLO! met the couple, at a luncheon, Michael joked that he had thought Davina was about to propose when she delivered a heartfelt speech thanking him for his loving care.
© Dave Benett/Getty Images for Gar“It’s so funny – it’s a bit like being in your 30s again, when everybody asks you the same question about whether you’re getting married,” she says. “We’re ensconced, but it’s not part of our world at the moment. We don’t really need it.
“It’s a very different thing, dating in your 50s than when you’re in your 30s. We’re in a really good place and have so much fun together. I think we’re really lucky to have each other.”
