In a column for the Daily Mail, Davina McCall reflects on the toughest 18 months of her life following brain tumour surgery and apologises to her family for the worry.
The 59-year-old television presenter posted an Instagram update featuring a framed picture of her brain scan alongside a selfie from her hospital bed. She wore a head bandage in the post-surgery image shared on Sunday.
Doctors discovered a rare benign tumour known as a colloid cyst during a routine health check-up in November 2024. McCall shares three adult children—Holly, 25, Tilly, 23, and Chester, 20—with her ex-husband Matthew Robinson. She subsequently married her husband, Michael Douglas, at Marylebone Town Hall in December 2025.
The presenter addressed the toll that her medical emergency took on her household over the preceding two years. She expressed remorse for the anxiety caused to her husband and children during the health crisis.
“I would also like to say sorry, for all the worry I put Michael and our kids thru, It was a lot.” “For everyone.” “And there I was just there being a worried little Dory in the middle of it,” McCall wrote on Instagram, as reported by the Daily Mail.
She credited her husband with extraordinary support throughout the ordeal. “Mostly thank you Michael I really couldn’t have got through this without you.” “You are a superhero.” “My superhero,” she wrote, according to the same report.
In October 2025, she received a breast cancer diagnosis just two months after getting a clear result on a routine mammogram. She underwent a lumpectomy shortly after the cancer detection. By April 2026, she announced she had received the all-clear following treatment. Her path to treatment for the brain tumour involved fellow star Caprice Bourret, who urged her to consult specialist Kevin O’Neill. Bourret had previously undergone successful treatment for a non-cancerous meningioma tumour in 2017. McCall celebrated her recovery by stating she is now living life to the maximum. Celebrities including Alan Carr, Fearne Cotton, and Paloma Faith left messages of support in the comments of her post.
“But when I found out I had a brain tumour, she was the first person I called,” McCall said. “I told her what the brain surgeon had said to me and she said “No, no, no, no, you’ve got to speak to this guy Kevin O’Neill, he’s the best guy”, and you don’t argue with Caprice.” “I don’t know how many of you know her, but she was like “NO, YOU ARE CALLING KEVIN”.” McCall added.
“And thank you, Caprice thank you, Rupi and @welbeckhealth for finding it and to everyone at @clevelandcliniclondon who took such great care of me.” “I’d like to thank my body and my brain, we’ve been through a lot and you’ve really worked hard to recover,” she said.
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