Davina McCall revealed she named her brain tumour and even threw it a party (Image: Getty)
TV icon Davina McCall has revealed she named her brain tumour “Jeffrey” and even threw it a party before undergoing life-saving surgery in November 2024.
Speaking candidly on her podcast , the 57-year-old explained: “I called my brain tumour Jeffrey. I needed to name it something. And I didn’t have any personal friends that were called Jeffrey, so it seemed like a good name to call him. And we had a Jeffrey happy birthday party with friends.”
Her boyfriend, hairdresser Michael Douglas, joined in on the occasion. “He played the piano and sang some songs and sort of did speeches. And we all kind of talked about things, and I talked about the fact that I was a bit scared, but ‘I know I’m going to do it.’ And if it was going to happen to anybody, it was good it happened to me because I am robust mentally and I can handle it.”
The TV star also opened up about the heartbreaking message she left to her three children; Holly, Tilly and Chester, whom she shares with her ex-husband Matthew Robinson.
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Her boyfriend, hairdresser Michael Douglas, played the piano at the bash (Image: Getty)
The diagnosis of a colloid cyst, though benign, carried the risk of sudden death, a reality the former Big Brother host, 57, took head-on. Determined to prepare for the worst, she ensured her affairs were in order.
“I wrote letters of wishes to all the children and put those in my will. What I wanted to do was to try and find a way that they would all find a way through if I didn’t make it. They make me very proud,” she explained.
Recalling her initial shock, she shared how a routine health check uncovered the tumour. “In my head, I was literally the healthiest person in the world… And I had this head-to-toe scan. And they came back and they went, ‘Okay, we’ve got your results. Um… we’d like to talk to you.’”
Despite the severity of her condition, McCall refused to let fear define her. “I just did not want the drama, right? I felt like the drama would make it a hundred times worse for me.
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Davina is known for her passion for fitness (Image: Getty)
“Because a lot of people have said to me since, ‘When you told me, I thought you could die.’ And I thought, ‘I don’t want people looking at me like I could die. I’m dealing with that myself.’ I just want positivity.”
McCall described it as a “big” tumour, 14mm wide, adding: “It needs to come out, because if it grows, it would be bad.”
She added: “Something that keeps coming up for me is this word ‘courage’, bravery and being strong. It’s a lot about entering into this next phase of my life and what does that look like,” she told followers before the surgery.
Now recovering from what her partner Michael described as a “textbook” surgery, McCall sees life with a fresh perspective. “I feel like life’s never going to be the same again, but in rather a good way. A life lived in fear is a life half-lived. Write your bucket list now. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”