A little more than two months ago Davina McCall appeared a picture of health. Full of energy, she bounded into a room at ITV‘s West London headquarters where we talked about the new series of My Mum, Your Dad – the channel’s Love Island for grown-ups show.
Dressed in a pale blue tweed jacket and matching mini-skirt, teamed with black loafers and white ankle socks, she excitedly regaled me with stories from her recent summer holiday – when she posted a picture of herself on social media in a red bikini and matching cowboy boots.
She also talked about how she’d just moved her eldest daughter Holly, 23, to Manchester, shopping for furniture in Ikea like any other mum settling their offspring into a new home.
She also revealed she was just beginning the Couch to 5k exercise plan app to get her running back up to speed.
Davina’s joyful smile barely left her face as we spoke for 40 minutes. She spoke glowingly about her boyfriend, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and how lucky she was to have found love in her 50s.
For Davina, a picture of happiness, things couldn’t have been much better. Life was busy for her, and she told me that that was just the way she liked it.
Davina McCall gives her shocking health update in a video to fans posted yesterday. Her cyst affects only three in a million people
Little did she know that just weeks later she was to undergo brain surgery to remove a benign tumour which was, rather frighteningly, 1.4cm wide.
Yesterday, in a video posted to her followers on Instagram, she bravely announced that she had a ‘very rare’ colloid cyst that affects only three in a million people. She said: ‘I was offered a health scan which I thought I was going to ace but it turned out I had a benign brain tumour which is very rare, three in a million.
‘I slightly put my head in the sand for a while, I saw a few neurosurgeons, had quite a lot of opinions and realised I needed to take it out. It’s quite big, it’s 14mm wide and it needs to come out because if it grows it would be bad. I’m having it removed.’
Ever positive, Davina – who turned 57 a month ago – added: ‘Say a prayer for me. I’m in good spirits.’
The former Big Brother presenter explained that while she was at no immediate risk, doctors were concerned that the tumour could cause complications if it increased in size.
The star revealed how she had been feeling ‘up and down’ and explained she would be in hospital for at least nine days before coming home.
Friends say that recent weeks have been ‘pretty horrible’ but Davina has been ‘doing as well as she can’ after learning the news in a routine health scan.
Once again her tower of strength was Douglas, 49, who was her own hairdresser before they became a couple in 2018.
She smiles beside her partner Michael Douglas, who posted the video on her behalf while she ‘recovers from this brain operation’
It was he who uploaded the video for her, writing on the post: ‘Hey everyone. Michael here. She will be ‘off grid’ for a bit while she recovers from this brain operation.
‘She is in great shape and in very good hands. 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. The support of people is amazingly powerful. Have a great day everyone. Michael xxx’.
And yesterday morning she went into surgery. ‘Davina has been very brave,’ said a friend. ‘It hasn’t been easy for her and while it is very lucky that the tumour is benign, it is still terrifying to go through something. It came as a surprise, a shock.’
Indeed, following her announcement, celebrities including Amanda Holden, Holly Willoughby and Rylan Clark all took to social media to send their love.
Holly wrote: ‘I’m sending you all the love and then a whole lot more,’ while Amanda wrote: ‘Sending you so much love.’
Rylan, who won the 11th series of Celebrity Big Brother and later presented spin-off Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, added: ‘We’re all thinking of you beautiful.’
Meanwhile, Olympic heptathlon gold medallist Dame Denise Lewis added: ‘Love you darling. You’ve got this. See you on the other side of the op.’
The diagnosis came as a huge shock. After battling drug addiction in her 20s, Davina has made her health her life’s work – and takes it very seriously.
She has also been at the forefront of campaigning for better menopause care.
But now her focus will be on recovering from the colloid cyst – a slow-growing tumour typically found near the centre of the brain. Most patients get headaches, although other symptoms including vertigo, memory problems and double vision.
If large enough, a colloid cyst can obstruct the movement of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, which leads to a high risk of sudden death.
There is no known hereditary or environmental cause.
Davina sports some athletic gear, who has previously revealed that she exercises three to four times a week – but still remains active on the rest days
When I met Davina – also mum to Tilly, 21, and Chester, 17 – back in September, she proudly spoke of how she looks after herself. She revealed that she has just given up sugar again and eats eggs for breakfast and lots of oily fish – and no desserts.
Speaking of her fitness regime, she explained: ‘I exercise three to four times a week, that’s all I have time for.
‘I am active on my other days, I will always run up the escalator, or get off the train one stop early and walk or run. I have had a summer of scant exercise, swimming in the sea, dancing in the nightclub, going kayaking.
‘I do strength training now, weights, bicep curls, planking, squats with weights.’
But what really kept her happy was Douglas, the man she met after splitting with her husband of 17 years, Matthew Robertson in 2017. She spoke of how lucky she is to have found him, fearing she would otherwise be lonely in mid-life. And never will she need him more than now.
A friend said: ‘Michael is amazing, he adores Davina and will be caring for her as she gets through this very difficult and tough time.’