The Masked Singer star has said she is “stepping back” from full time work and said her “very, very frightening” breast cancer diagnosis “put everything into place” for her
22:38, 05 Jan 2026Updated 22:38, 05 Jan 2026
Davina McCall to step back from full time work after breast cancer diagnosis(Image: BBC)
Davina McCall has said she will step back from full time work following her breast cancer diagnosis. The Masked Singer star announced in November that she underwent surgery to remove a cancerous lump from her breast, which had not spread as it was caught early.
Talking on the Miss Me? podcast, Davina revealed that her recent health blow made her re-think her work-life balance. She shared that all her health issues, including her drug addiction and brain tumour, had led to “breakthroughs” in her mind. “I had an amazing breakthrough when I got clean in the early nineties,” she said.
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Davina McCall opened up about her breast cancer diagnosis(Image: Getty Images for BAFTA)
“I had another huge breakthrough after I had my brain tumour removed. I realised that I needed to de-stress my life. Interestingly, I realised that – but then the breast cancer, which I thought was a very, very frightening thing, made me realise that I really, really had to put that into place. And I have now.”
She added: ‘I’m going to work a four-day week. I feel so much better now about my life and trying to get it more balanced. So now, really, as I hit this stage of my life, I want to take more care of myself. That is my latest project: me, because I can’t take care of anyone else if I’m not okay.”
In her twenties, Davina started using heroin. She developed an addiction but was able to overcome it before she started working for MTV as a presenter.
Years later, the former Big Brother presenter revealed she had been diagnosed with a rare brain tumour. In November 2024, she announced that she had been diagnoses with a colloid cyst and had to have neurosurgery.
Davina emotionally updated people about her surgery on Instagram
She shared that she wanted to share diagnoses to help people get checked(Image: INSTAGRAM)
A year later, she revealed her breast cancer diagnosis. She shared via Instagram that she spoke about her experience with the latter cancer to “help someone” and urge others to “get checked”.
This comes shortly after Davina married her partner Michael Douglas. The presenter and the hairdresser married in December after six years together. He is her third husband after Matthew Robertson, to whom she was married for 18 years, and Andrew Leggett, to whom she was married for less than a year.
Davina shares three children with her ex-husband Matthew – Holly, Tilly and Chester. The two have reportedly maintained a healthy co-parenting relationship. In February 2025, she shared that her brain cancer diagnosis made her wonder what would happen to her children if she “didn’t make it”.
Talking on her own podcast, Begin Again, she said: “I did go and address my will and make sure that was airtight. I talked to Michael about my wishes. I wrote letters of wishes to all the children and put those in my will.”
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support. The Macmillan Support Line also offers confidential support to people living with cancer and their loved ones. If you need to talk, call us on 0808 808 0000.
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