Davina McCall has said she is to undergo brain surgery, after being diagnosed with a “very rare” tumour.
The TV presenter, 57, said the benign brain tumour, known as a colloid cyst, was found after she was offered a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work.
In a video on Instagram, 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.”
McCall described it as a “big” tumour, 14 mm wide, adding: “It needs to come out, because if it grows, it would be bad.”
She is having it removed through a craniotomy, a surgical procedure to temporarily remove part of the skull, and said she is 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.
McCall’s partner, Michael Douglas, will keep fans updated on her condition, she said.
In a message to her account, he 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 I 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, 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, as her father Andrew suffers from the latter condition.
The TV star, who started going through perimenopause at 44, also said the symptoms reminded her of when she was a drug addict in her 20s due to waking up soaked in sweat.
She has also spoken about taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to alleviate some of the symptoms, previously telling ITV’s Loose Women: “The health benefits for me way outweighed the negatives. I’ve got dementia running in my family, it massively reduces that, reduces diabetes and it reduces the risk of heart disease by 50%.”
Earlier this year, the presenter was honoured with the special recognition award at the National Television Awards for her broadcasting career and was made an honorary doctor of civil law degree from Newcastle University for championing women’s health.
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.
McCall made her name on Big Brother between 2000 and 2010 during its Channel 4 run, and has gone on to co-present BBC Comic Relief and Sport Relief, Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer, The Million Pound Drop, Long Lost Family, The Masked Singer and voiced a robot version of herself in Doctor Who.
The TV star also regularly posts about exercising and health products and has released numerous fitness DVDs.
