Davina McCall has opened up to HELLO! about her recovery from surgery to remove a benign brain tumour four months ago, revealing that she's feeling good and is "unbelievably grateful."
Speaking exclusively to hello! at Brain Tumour Research's Closer to a Cure: 15 Years of Impact gala held at London's Dorchester Hotel, which she attended with her partner, the hairstylist Michael Douglas, the star says of her health: "I feel exactly the same."
"Obviously it changes [things]. You have a new look on life, gratitude, love for people, love for nature, love for architecture - everything looks beautiful. It's different in that way, but not in personality or anything".
© BTRCOn November 15th 2024, Davina released an emotional video message to her fans on Instagram revealing that, at that very moment, she was in surgery to remove a 14mm colloid cyst from her brain.
Davina, who stayed in intensive care for three days following the surgery to remove the benign brain tumour, and then five days at London's Cleveland Clinic, recalls: "It's quite an interesting thing to go through. It's four months ago – for Michael it seems like forever, but to me it feels like it's gone in the blink of an eye because obviously the first two months I had no short-term memory.
"Now I'm back to work and everything's beginning to work again. I'm beginning to process it a lot more, in a good way. It's a lot to unpack."
© Brain Tumour Research gala dinnerAs mum to three children, Holly, Tilly and Chester, whom she shares with her ex-husband, the TV presenter Matthew Roberston, it was understandably tough leaving them to undergo surgery, and of course, they are relieved Davina is ok.
"Yeah, they're so pleased," she reveals. "It was quite funny… I arrived back from the hospital and my son went, 'Oh, I didn't know it was that serious.'
"I was quite pleased in a funny sort of way but then I also thought I hadn't really done my job properly. I didn't want to worry him, but I hadn't prepared him if it hadn't gone well. I felt like I'd slightly shortchanged him there. But I'm ok, so it's great news."
© Instagram / @davinamccallThinking back to before the five-hour operation to remove the cyst sitting between the left and right brain hemispheres, Davina thought she was asymptomatic. Now though, she realises there were signs.
"My mind had gone quiet, and now my mind's woken up. It's absolutely exhausting!" she says of the return of her 'brain chatter'. "I remember waking up going, 'Oh my god, shut up!' I was thinking so much."
Had Michael noticed a change? "I was sort of the same in every other way. I could still do my job, I still loved to dance, I thought I'd just gone a bit more zen. I was meditating a bit," she says.
© Getty ImagesTo prepare for the surgery, Davina visited a hypnotist - the same hypnotist who gave her the confidence to travel 1000m beneath the sea in a submarine for the programme Life at the Extremes.
"He hypnotized me, and he said, 'When you walk in that room and you see everyone there, the surgeon, the anaesthetist… that's team Davina. They are all there to help you. They want you to make it.' So, when I walked in I was like, 'Yeah!' It was really helpful."
Was her surgeon, Kevin O'Neill – also chairman of the Brain Tumour Research Campaign - aware she'd had hypnosis pre-op? "No," he says.
Sitting next to Kevin at the gala on a table with their partners, Davina beams: "I'm very lucky tonight - I'm sandwiched between my boyfriend and my brain surgeon. I'm supporting Kevin because he is very important to us. It means everything for me to be able to be here for him tonight."
She said of the gala: "It's very sobering being here and seeing people who are still living with their tumour, that can't operate on it or are just looking for those words, 'it's stable'," she says. "It's very emotional for me to know how lucky I am."
Visit braintumourresearch.org
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
