Davina McCall has been rushed to hospital for brain surgery.
The Masked Singer judge has had an operation to remove a 14mm benign brain tumour, which she discovered during a health scan a few months ago while giving a talk for a menopause company.
In a video update shared on Friday, Davina asked her fans to keep her in their prayers as her boyfriend Michael Douglas takes over her social media during her recovery period.
Michael reassured fans that Davina is in “great shape” but will be “off grid” until she’s fully recovered. He wrote in the caption of the video: “Hey everyone. Michael here. @davinamccall will be “off grid” for a bit while she recovers from this brain operation. She is in great shape and in very good hands.”
The Masked Singer judge has had an operation to remove a 14mm benign brain tumour, which she discovered during a health scan a few months ago while giving a talk for a menopause company (
Image:
ITV)
“I’ll do the odd update from her account here for anyone interested. I’m sure she’ll read all the comments when she’s able to so feel free to send love [heart emoji] . The support of people is amazingly powerful. Have a great day everyone. Michael xxx”.
Alongside her husband’s caption, an emotional Davina addressed fans in a video, saying: “I was offered a health scan which I thought I was going to ace but it turned out I had benign brain tumour which is very rare, ‘three in a million’.”
Speaking in the pre recorded clip, she said: “I’m posting this. It will be Friday morning, and I’m doing it because a few months ago, I did a menopause talk for a company, and they offered me a health scan in return, which I thought I was going to ace, but it turned out I had a benign brain tumour called a colloid cyst, which is very rare, three in a million.
“And so I slightly put my head in the sand for a while, and then I saw quite a few neuro surgeons. I got lots of opinions, and I realised that I have to get it taken out.” Davina described it as a “big” tumour, 14 mm wide, adding: “It needs to come out, because if it grows, it would be bad.”
The star told how she will undergo a craniotomy, a surgical procedure to temporarily remove part of the skull. “Say a prayer for me. I’m in good spirits,” she added.
“I’m going to be in hospital for about nine days, and then I’m going to be going home, but I’m going to be off my phone for a while. But I don’t want you to worry about me. I’m doing that enough as it is. I am in a good space, and I have all the faith in the world in my surgeon and his team, and I am handing the reins over to him. He knows what he’s doing,” she signed off.
According to the NHS, non-cancerous brain tumours are more common in people over the age of 50, and symptoms include headaches, blackouts, behavioural changes and loss of consciousness.
The NHS describes a benign brain tumour as: “A benign (non-cancerous) brain tumour is a mass of cells that grows relatively slowly in the brain. Non-cancerous brain tumours tend to stay in one place and do not spread. It will not usually come back if all of the tumour can be safely removed during surgery. If the tumour cannot be completely removed, there’s a risk it could grow back. In this case it’ll be closely monitored using scans or treated with radiotherapy.”
The former Big Brother host, who currently presents ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad, has long advocated on women’s health issues, and presented documentaries on contraception and the menopause.
Last year, she became an MBE in the King’s birthday honours for services to broadcasting last year, and in 2022 released the book Menopausing: The Positive Roadmap To Your Second Spring, with the aim of ending “the shame and horrific misinformation surrounding menopause”.
That same year, she fronted the Channel 4 documentary Davina McCall: Sex, Mind And The Menopause, and told the BBC that the perimenopausal symptoms caused her difficulties multi-tasking and she considered that she had a brain tumour or Alzheimer’s disease at the time.
McCall has also raised money for Cancer Research UK by running for Race For Life in honour of her late sister.
Her sister Caroline Baday died from lung cancer in 2012 at the age of 50.
Michael released a statement on behalf of Davina (
Image:
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Davina and Michael, 49, have been together for five years and live together in a mansion in Kent (
Image:
Mike Marsland/WireImage)
The sudden news comes after Davina opened up about her struggles with “empty nest syndrome” as her children grow up and leave home. The 57-year-old TV star was overwhelmed with emotion, confessing that she ‘couldn’t stop crying’ when her eldest daughter moved to Manchester after university. Davina, mother to Holly, 23, Tilly, 21, and Chester, 18, shared how she “cried all the way home” after dropping off Holly.
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With Tilly already in Sydney and only Chester at home, a source revealed that Davina is finding it hard to adjust to not being needed as much. They said: “With only Chester still at home, she just can’t believe how fast her kids are growing up. Davina, like any mum, also can’t help worry about her daughters, even though they’re in their twenties. She feels like part of her is missing now that they’re living their own lives and that she won’t be needed in the same way. She’s no longer being asked to make dinners, do their washing etc. It’s the little things that she’ll miss.”
The TV celebrity got real about her emotional trip back from Manchester after dropping her eldest off, despite the city being just “two hours away” by train. In an intimate reveal to The Times Magazine, she disclosed: “I wasn’t worried about empty nest syndrome until I drove my daughter to Manchester recently. We built IKEA furniture all day, settled her in, and then I cried all the way home.”
Back in September, Davina issued partner Michael an apology after locking lips with another man during that month’s National Television Awards.
The presenter was honoured on the night with the Special Recognition Award for contributions to the television industry. Following her winners announcement, the ceremony showed a clip of some of her best moments on the small screen. One hilarious video however showed the moment Davina kissed David Tennant during the Red Nose Day telethon in 2009.
As the footage beamed out, Michael’s hilarious reaction was caught on camera as he set next to Davina in the audience. His mock shock was lapped up by the audience as Davina was seen apologising to her man.
The video also had clips of her colleagues and co-stars, including Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary, sharing their favourite things about the presenter. Other projects from over the years included her time on Big Brother as well as current project My Mum, Your Dad.
When Davina took to the stage toreceive her gong, she paid a gushing tribute to Michael, thanking the hairdresser for making her a “better person”. During her tearful tribute, she said: “Thank you so much, this means so much. I can’t even begin to tell you, I don’t even know where to start.”
“I love my job, I feel so privileged to be able to share it with you. You might like some of it, not all of it. I’ve presented some turkeys, I know!
Focusing on Michael, she then said: “Thank you, I love being on this journey with you. You make me a better person and you make me so happy.”
Davina is happier than ever with Michael, after being friends with the stylist to the stars for more than 20 years (
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Davina and Michael, 49, have been together for five years and live together in a mansion in Kent. Despite her current happiness, Davina has opened up in the past about her turbulent love life before she met Michael. However, she now feels she has a “potential marriage going”. She made the claim while speaking to The One Show about her relationship with Michael, who she met while he worked on Big Brother as a hairstylist.
Doting mum Davina has navigated her way through devastating problems in her personal life, including her “traumatic” divorce from ex-husband Matthew Robertson. The couple, who wed in 2000, share three children – Holly, Chester and Tilly – and announced they had split in 2017, shortly after Davina’s 50th birthday. The former Big Brother host has had a turbulent love life over the years, and it began in her early 20s, when she started dating a huge rock star.
Then aged just 25, Davina struck up a strong connection to rock and blues legend Eric Claption, who was 23 years older than her. After experimenting with cocaine and heroin, she decided to beat her demons with the help of the Wonderful Tonight hitmaker, who supported her as she attended meetings at Narcotics Anonymous. “I was a mess. You name it, I took it. Cocaine, ecstasy and heroin,” she told The Mirror. Her time spent with the rock icon helped her to land a life-changing role at MTV in 1992, but the couple soon parted ways.
Davina moved on quickly, and began dating shop owner Andrew Leggett, and after a whirlwind six-month romance, they got married in 1997. However, her rarely spoken about first marriage was not a happy union, and they divorced after just three months. At the time, Davina and Andrew were pictured arguing outside her old flat in West London, and she briefly touched upon their union in an interview in 2006. “I fell madly in love, but it was wrong, so I got out quick,” she told The Mirror. “I won’t talk about it because he’s not a celebrity and it’s not fair on him.”
While working on MTV in her first big TV gig, Davina had a brief fling with footballer Stan Collymore, who had moved from Liverpool to Aston Villa in 1998. He wrote about their relationship in his autobiography Tackling My Demons, and said Davina was “the one that got away”, as he would have married her if it wasn’t for another woman “messing” with his head. They sparked rumours of a reconciliation when he was spotted at her villa in the south of France, but Davina shot down the reports, and insisted Stan was just a close friend.
The presenter then began dating Pet Rescue co-host Matthew Robertson, and the couple tied the knot in 2000 at Eastnor Castle in Hertfordshire. They welcomed three children – daughters Holly and Tilly, and son Chester – and even renewed their wedding vows on their 15th anniversary. Despite their determination to make their marriage work, they eventually parted ways, and Davina announced they had split shortly after her 50th birthday in 2017. “I am very sad to say Matthew and I have separated. Our amazing children are our number one priority,” she shared in a statement.
Discussing the divorce in 2020, Davina admitted it was “traumatic”, and said it took time – and years – for them to work things out following their split. “Going through a divorce is a traumatic experience and it is something that needs to be navigated as carefully as possible,” she told the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine, adding that their divorce “involved absolute emotional turmoil.”
Now, Davina is happier than ever with Michael, after being friends with the stylist to the stars for more than 20 years.
