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Davina McCall has revealed she’s been given the all-clear from breast cancer in an emotional update on the results of her surgery and treatment earlier this year.
The TV presenter, 58, shared the news on Friday while speaking candidly about her health, six months after undergoing a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy in January.
‘I went to go and have a checkup on my boobs the other day, obviously quite a serious day, quite heavy,’ she said on her podcast Making The Cut, which she co-hosts with husband Michael Douglas, 49.
‘It was all clear, just letting everyone know. Good news, good news.’
The Long Lost Family host underwent a lumpectomy last October after discovering a lump in her breast while working on ITV’s The Masked Singer.
She completed five days of preventative radiotherapy in January this year as an ‘insurance policy’ to prevent the cancer from returning.
Davina added that her recent hospital appointment in London was brightened by using a credit card wand that she had recently bought after seeing it on social media.
She explained: ‘I went to go and pay my bill and I tapped my wand and literally people were beside themselves. I thought, this heavy day has become very joyful and funny. And I’ve not only put a smile on other people’s faces, but I’ve put a smile on mine.’
The former Big Brother presenter elaborated: ‘It is quite a big wand, like your fairy godmother would come along and bestow your greatest wishes upon you with this wand.
‘In this star on the top of the wand, when you unscrew it, there is a debit or credit card size slot that you can slot your card into, then you reattach the handle… I’ve tried it everywhere now.’
Davina revealed her breast cancer diagnosis last November, saying she was ‘very angry’ when she found out but felt in a ‘much more positive place’ following the surgery.
The presenter had found the lump after seeing signs posted by Lorraine Kelly in the ITV studios urging women to ‘check your breasts’, which prompted her to get it examined.
The cancer was caught ‘very very early’ with clear margins after the lumpectomy, and her lymph nodes were also clear.
The diagnosis came just one year after Davina underwent surgery in November 2024 to remove a benign brain tumour – a colloid cyst that was discovered during a health check-up she received in return for giving a talk about menopause.
The 14mm cyst was described as ‘very rare, three in a million’, and required a six-hour craniotomy operation. Davina has spoken openly about experiencing memory issues and breaking down in tears during her recovery from the brain surgery.
Reflecting on the timing of her breast cancer diagnosis, Davina said recently: ‘In October, interestingly two years almost to the month where I found out I had a brain tumour, I got breast cancer, and it felt like being punched in the face by the universe’.
She has said how her loving husband Michael, a hairdresser, helped her navigate her emotions during the health battle: ‘I was like, “I’m not angry. It’s fine. It’s meant to be. I’ve obviously got to learn something”.
‘[I was] trying to be positive. And he said, “But if you were angry, it’s okay. You can, you can be angry”. Then I got really angry, and I got the cushions out and the pillow [punching them] and that was quite therapeutic.’
Davina and Michael married last December in an intimate ceremony attended by around ten close friends and family members near their Kent home.
The couple had announced their engagement in September 2025, after Michael proposed on a beach in Ibiza in July.
They had been together since 2018 after first meeting in the early 2000s when Michael worked as Davina’s hairstylist on Big Brother.
Davina shares three children with her ex-husband Matthew Robertson, 57, a fellow TV presenter whom she divorced in 2018 after 17 years of marriage.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?
What is breast cancer?
It comes from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.
When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding tissue it is called ‘invasive’. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.
Most cases develop in those over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, though this is rare.
Staging indicates how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.
What causes breast cancer?
A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.
Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance, such as genetics.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most are not cancerous and are fluid-filled cysts, which are benign.
The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
- Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammogram, a special X-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
- Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.
If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest X-ray.
How is breast cancer treated?
Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.
- Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
- Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focused on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops them from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
- Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying.
- Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.
How successful is treatment?
The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.
The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 71 means more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
For more information visit breastcancernow.org or call its free helpline on 0808 800 6000
When revealing her breast cancer diagnosis, Davina thanked the Royal Marsden Hospital and gave ‘an extra special thanks to Michael’ describing how supportive he had been throughout her treatment.
The presenter appeared recently on Heart Breakfast where she discussed experiencing ‘scanxiety’ before her check-up, admitting: ‘I had a check yesterday, I also got scanxiety, and they were very pleased to tell me there was nothing there’.
Davina has urged others to prioritise their health, saying: ‘So just check, if you’ve got something, go get it looked at. It takes seconds’.
Following her back-to-back health scares, Davina has made significant lifestyle changes, including switching to a four-day work week to better manage stress and take care of herself.
