Davina McCall is recovering in hospital after undergoing brain surgery to remove a “very rare” tumour.
The TV host, whose credits include Long Lost Family and Your Mum, My Dad, told her fans that she was about to undergo surgery after specialists discovered the tumour three months ago.
McCall said the 14mm benign tumour – called a colloid cyst – is so rare that it affects just three in a million people.
On Monday (18 November), the presenter’s partner, hairstylist Michael Douglas, posted an update on her condition on Instagram, telling the Masked Singer judge’s fans: “Mega progress these last 24 hours. Massive relief to see some light breaking through. Thanks for all the good vibes coming in from all angles. Up and up.”
He added: “Update folks. Thanks so much to all the well wishers. She really has made an enormous leap forward in the last 24 hours. She is out of ICU. She is ‘loving awareness’. Thank you xx Michael.
This post followed an earlier one in which he revealed McCall was |recovering in ICU as a precaution” after a surgery that was described as “textbook” by the surgeon.
He wrote: ‘As you can imagine she’s utterly exhausted. Thanks so much for all the love from everyone on here.. it’s powerful stuff, we are super grateful.”
Last week, McCall revealed her diagnosis via an Instagram video.
She told her followers: “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 neurosurgeons. I got lots of opinions, and I realised that I have to get it taken out.”
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McCall described it as a “big” tumour, 14mm wide, adding: “It needs to come out, because if it grows, it would be bad.”
She said she was having it removed through a craniotomy, a surgical procedure to temporarily remove part of the skull, and that she was in “good spirits”.
“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,” McCall said. “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.”
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.
In a message to McCall’s account, Douglas said she will be “off grid for a bit” while she recovers.
He added: “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.”
The former Big Brother host has long been a champion of women’s health issues, and has presented documentaries on contraception and the menopause.
Last year, she became an MBE in the King’s birthday honours for services to broadcasting, and in 2022 she released a book titled 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. She told the BBC that perimenopausal symptoms had caused her difficulties with multitasking, leading her to wonder if she might have a brain tumour or Alzheimer’s disease at the time, as her father Andrew suffers from the latter condition.
Additional reporting by agencies
