Despite undergoing brain surgery just a few months ago, Davina McCall’s characteristic enthusiasm is in full force as she chats to heat at a lunch to celebrate becoming an ambassador for Ancient + Brave.
At the beginning of her career, Davina, 57, was motivating us to get active with her workout DVDs and she’s still working out on her fitness platform Own Your Goals. She’s also a passionate voice in the conversation on midlife health and the menopause, so it’s easy to see why she’s so excited to work with a wellness brand.
Speaking about how her attitude to exercise has changed in the 33 years she’s been on our screens, the OG Big Brother presenter reveals, ‘When I was younger, it was a lot more about looking good. I was constantly photographed in bikinis. Every beach I went to, I knew that – even if I couldn't see them – there were three or four paps somewhere taking photos of me. So, I was always trying to be beach-body ready in my 30s.
‘Then after I had kids, I just wanted to stay fit enough to run around after them. I’m beyond trying to look like a 20 year old anymore. I just want to look good for my age. But more than anything, it's an inside job. I want to be fit, I want to be healthy, and I want to stay around as long as I can for the kids. That's the goal that I'm always aiming for now.’
The mum of three’s mentality changed when she entered her 50s. And after having surgery in November, after a scan uncovered a rare type of benign brain tumour called a colloid cyst, she’s never been more aware of finding the joy in life. Davina – who shares Holly, 23, Tilly, 21, and Chester, 18, with ex-husband Matthew Robertson – explains, ‘I definitely feel more settled and safe, and less like I’m ready to escape drama at any time. That's what I felt like, I think, from having an alcoholic parent [her mum, Florence]. You're constantly reading the room and on high alert. I think that stayed with me for a lot of my life. And then I hit 50, and everything started to change.
‘It’s interesting how mother nature, or the universe, or whatever you want to call it, gives you a time in your life where you're happier in yourself. You start getting crepey skin and wrinkles, but you don't care so much because you're happier in yourself.’
No doubt that happiness also comes from her five-year relationship with hairdresser Michael Douglas. The pair had been friends for years before they began dating in 2019, following Davina’s 2017 divorce, and Michael, 49, has been a major source of positivity and support for the star over the past few months. Davina is now busy throwing herself back into work. Having fronted multiple hit TV shows across her prolific career including Long Lost Family and My Mum Your Dad – which she’s ‘surprised’ hasn’t been picked up for a third season – more recently, she’s combined her presenting skills with her passion for wellness.
Embracing guests who have had a second lease at life on her podcast Begin Again, Davina admits that she’d love to interview presenter-turned-producer Richard Bacon, who was famously sacked from Blue Peter for taking cocaine. She says, ‘He went from Blue Peter presenter to being set up by his best friend in a scandal that made him lose his job, lose his whole career. Then to start up a production company… That is amazing, to pick yourself up after that kind of scandal.’
Despite everything – including being awarded an MBE in 2023 for services to broadcasting – Davina jokingly admits that her three kids have never thought she was cool. ‘I’ve just been embarrassing all my life,’ she laughs.
‘I remember being banned from wearing a coat to go on school run because they didn’t like that coat!’
Davina is now an ambassador for Ancient + Brave.