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Davina McCall and Jamie Theakston discussed their changed feelings towards death as they reflected on feeling grateful following their cancer battles.
The former Big Brother presenter, 58, was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour in 2024, followed by breast cancer in November 2025.
Meanwhile Jamie, 55, was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer two years ago and underwent three surgeries which were successful in battling the disease.
And on Friday Davina filled in for an absent Amanda Holden as she joined Jamie and Ashley Roberts on Heart Breakfast.
Remarking that the last time she was on the show was pre-brain tumour, the pair reflected on their cancer battles as Davina insisted she is no longer afraid of dying.
While both stars have had successful treatment, they admitted they both still have ‘scanxiety’ before a check up.
Jamie explained: ‘It’s funny how in your mind when you lie awake at night when you think of all the terrible things.
‘I was thinking about how I was going to tell the kids and what I was going to do with work?’
Interrupting, Davina then questioned: ‘Can I ask you something Jamie, because that is basically planning how you are going to announce you not being here anymore, have you come to terms with dying now? Have you let go?’
Jamie confessed he is definitely not over the fear of death as he replied: ‘No, I couldn’t face that now no.
‘I wanted to see my kids grow up and see my grandchildren and there were so many more things that I wanted to do, that I wasn’t prepared to do that.’
However Davina’s health battles have on the other hand completely changed her attitude to life as she admitted: ‘I am not afraid of dying anymore, it’s a lovely feeling.’
Sensing the chat was getting rather deep for 7am in the morning, Jamie joked: ‘Ok, this has taken a turn,’ while Davina added: ‘It feels liberating though that’s what is interesting about it.
‘But I am well and I am bouncy, annoyingly chipper. Because I think it makes you so grateful. You and me we got a second go. We are so lucky.’
Davina previously revealed she is stepping back from full-time work after a frightening breast cancer diagnosis served as a stark wake-up call.
Speaking candidly on the Miss Me? podcast in January, the Masked Singer judge admitted the double health blow had forced her to confront a lifetime of running from change and overworking.
‘Change is something that all my life, I spent running away from,’ she confessed. ‘I absolutely hated it. Change was something that really frightened me. I always loved the status quo, knowing what I was doing and feeling safe in that.’
For over three decades, Davina has maintained a punishing schedule, fronting everything from Big Brother and Long Lost Family to The Masked Singer and My Mum, Your Dad.
But the mother-of-three revealed her perspective has shifted dramatically following her recent health battles, acknowledging that her most significant personal growth has emerged from difficult periods.
‘What has happened, actually, is that I have realised that all my really big growth has come from change – and often quite painful change,’ she said.
Davina explained while her brain tumour had initially prompted reflection about reducing stress, it was the subsequent breast cancer diagnosis that truly forced her hand.
‘I had an amazing breakthrough when I got clean in the early nineties,’ she said, referring to her heroin and alcohol addiction in her twenties.
‘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 continued: ‘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.’
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
