In November 2024, the broadcaster revealed that she had been diagnosed with a benign 14mm brain tumour. It was subsequently removed later that year.
In April last year, she told fans that her final MRI scan had shown that the tumour, known as a colloid cyst, had completely disappeared.
Davina McCall said it was the “worst year” for her and her husband Michael Douglas
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“After I'd had my brain tumour taken out [in 2024], I had advanced Alzheimer's, so I couldn't remember anything. When I came out of the operation, I didn't know I'd had an operation. The staff came in every day, and they'd go: 'What's my name?' and I'd go: 'I don't know'.”
“Michael would come and visit for two hours, and he'd go to the loo and come back, and I'd go: 'Oh my God, you're here,' and I didn't know he'd been there.”
She added that she couldn’t watch films for six months as she would forget what had happened as she watched, and that she also had to stop reading.
Davina McCall said she began to lose her memory after the surgery
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McCall said that later that year, her memory began to improve thanks to singing, which she described as “mind physio”.
“Music healed me and last October was the first time I woke up and went, ‘Oh my God, I remember what I did yesterday,’” she said.
Colloid cysts are benign, non-cancerous fluid-filled sacs found in or around the lateral and third ventricles of the brain, according to the London Neurosurgery Partnership.
Revealing her diagnosis in 2024, McCall explained that after consulting with multiple neurosurgeons and receiving "lots of opinions," she decided to have the tumour removed as it is "big for the space" in her brain, and could cause serious issues if it continues to grow.
Davina McCall was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2025
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While hosting Comic Relief in March 2025 she said: “It’s been, quite possibly, the hardest thing I’ve ever been through and this whole experience, weirdly, kind of weighing up all the risks and all the positive things about having this tumour removed made me think deeply about what life is all about, and what really, really matters when things get tough.”
However, despite receiving the all-clear in April, 2025 had another health scare in store for MCall, who revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
She revealed that she underwent a lumpectomy in November to remove it. “It was very, very small, so I got it very, very early, which is incredibly lucky, but I am so relieved to have had it removed, and to know that it hasn’t spread.”