There have been ups and downs throughout Davina McCall’s 2025. She’s had to deal with a second major health crisis after her brain tumour, as doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer.
But through it all have been moments of joy, such as her recent engagement and secret wedding to hairdresser Michael Douglas. No matter what is happening in her life, The Masked Singer presenter just keeps smiling.
So, read on as we break down Davina’s rollercoaster of a year.
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Davina McCall’s rollercoaster year – January
Back in January, Davina was still recovering from an operation she had in November 2024 to remove a brain tumour. Before her surgery, she shared a video message to her followers.
“A few months ago, I did a menopause talk for a company and they offered me a health scan in return, which I thought I was going to ace,” she said. “But it turned out I had a benign brain tumour called a colloid cyst, which is very rare – three in a million.”
In order to have the tumour removed, Davina had to go into the ICU, leaving then-partner Michael in charge of her Instagram account.
Following the operation, Michael said in an update post: “Thanks so much to all the well wishers. She really has made an enormous leap forward in the last 24 hours. She is out of ICU.
“Massive relief to see some light coming through,” he added. “Thanks for all the good vibes coming in from all angles.”
At the end of January, in an interview with The Times, Davina shared her struggles with health anxiety since the operation. She recounted how her fear spiked when she arrived at the accommodation for a family trip to Ibiza.
“I am going to stop being so anxious about health,” she added, revealing that she’d gone clubbing with her children in Ibiza. “I was always tucked up in bed by 1.30am — no all-nighters. But even then I was thinking, god, my sports watch says I’m going to get a bad night’s sleep here… I’m going to die.”
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February
On her podcast, Begin Again, Davina McCall’s 2025 hit a turning point as she was interviewed by Stephen Bartlett about her brain tumour op. Getting teary, she said: “I felt like this thing had taken control of me. They said: ‘You’ve got a benign cyst in your brain.'”
She also shared how the surgery changed her as a person. “You realise that your personality is your short-term memory,” she said. “I was like: ‘I’m still in here. I began again, again.”
Davina posted the clip on her Instagram with the caption: “This week I’m swapping seats. I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of messages of love and support from every single one of you – truly!”
March
After walking the red carpet at the BRIT Awards, Davina McCall’s 2025 hit a turning point. She made her triumphant live TV return after appearing on The One Show to discuss an upcoming Red Nose Day event.
On her return to work, Davina said: “I am so happy to be back it was like the final piece of the jigsaw! I was recovering at home in my bedroom a lot, going for a couple of walks a day.”
That being said, she confessed she was nervous. “But I was kind of stuck in my bedroom, it became my safe space. I kind of didn’t want to leave. I got a bit nervous about going back to work and I kept thinking in my head: ‘Well I could just make a bit of an excuse.’
“And Michael said to me: ‘I know you, I know how much you loved work and how much it means to you. I know you’re scared but this is the final piece of the jigsaw and I think it’s going to make a big difference when you go back.'”
“I was so angry with him, and then when I went back, at the end of the day I sat in the car and I was like: ‘Yes!’ It felt so good to see everybody and to be back to normal! It felt like something normal I could do that I love!”
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April
In an Instagram post, Davina shared that she had been given the all clear following the removal of her her brain tumour.
“Had the final MRI this week @brain.surgery.uk got everything out during surgery, it’s not coming back,” she said in the post description. In the post she added: “I was a bit nervous about it because I knew if any of it was left then it would grow back and I’d just go through the whole thing again – which I was prepared to do … But it was clear!”.
May
Davina divulged more about her brain tumour in an interview with Women’s Health.
“The whole start back into life again after the operation was amazing – mega.” she said. “And [in the midst of] that feeling of anxiety and institutionalisation – of your house being the only safe place, of forgetting how to function in a normal way – everything felt like a massive win.”
However, she said she felt nervous returning to work due to potential memory loss. But Michael gave her the push to return as part of the couple’s ‘radical honesty’.
She added: “Three weeks before the operation, I showed Michael my true feelings. I said I felt really scared. I had a massive cry… he said that when we first got together, he was like: ‘You’re quite hard to look after, how do I do that?’ And when we had that big talk, he said: ‘You know, I’ve been in training for this moment. And I’m ready, you know, I’ve got your back.'”
August
Davina shared that, after receiving her brain tumour diagnosis, she compiled an ‘end-of-life’ checklist.
“I needed to get my brain in the right place where I could be calm before the operation,” she said during an appearance at Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place Festival.
“I had to make sure that my kids were going to be okay if I did not make it. That is all I really cared about. I knew my partner, Michael, would be okay as he is a whole person, but I was really worried about my kids.”
She continued: “I went into forensic thinking about my children and where they were at in their lives, what stage they were at. You are only happy as your unhappiest child. But I realised that they would be great, they would miss me, and I want to be with them, but they would be fine.
“I felt I could go to sleep on the operating table and know that they were all here to help me, but I can let go of the outcome, and it was the best gift.”
Users also shared concerns about her weight loss following an Instagram post. But Davina fans rubbished these claims and jumped to her defence.
September
In September, Davina and Michael got engaged. The ‘secret’ engagement was first reported by The Sun.
Davina later told HELLO!: “Michael is very funny and had spent the past two years getting down on bended knee and tying an imaginary shoelace on my finger.
“He got down on bended knee on the beach in Ibiza and I was like: ‘Is this real?’ I was terrified that if I said yes, he’d be joking.
“But he recited something he had prepared – which I’ll keep secret – and then asked me. He put a lot of thought and consideration into it, and I respected that.”
Also in September, Davina released a self-help book for mothers entitled Birthing. She also fronted reality show Escape From Honeymoon Island. However, this was cancelled in November after low ratings.
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November
On November 8, Davina McCall’s 2025 got worse. She delivered the news that none of us wanted to hear: she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
In a video message posted to Instagram, the presenter said: “Hello. I’m talking about this because I think it might help someone and this is what I always do. I just wanted to tell you that I have had breast cancer.
“I found a lump a few weeks ago and it came and went. But then, I was working on The Masked Singer and Lorraine Kelly had put signs on the back of all the doors saying check your breasts, so every time I went for a wee I did that, and it was still there.”
She continued: “Then one morning I saw it in the mirror and thought, I’m going to get that looked at. I had a biopsy. I found out it was indeed breast cancer and I had it taken out in a lumpectomy nearly three weeks ago. And the margins, they take out a little bit extra, the margins are clear. It was very, very small so I got it very, very early, which is incredibly lucky.”
Along with the surgery, Davina revealed that she will be receiving radiotherapy. “I am so relieved to have had it removed and to know that it hasn’t spread,” she concluded. “My lymph nodes are clear, I didn’t have any removed, and all I’m going to do now is have five days of radiotherapy in January as kind of an insurance policy. And then I am on my journey to try and stop it ever coming back.”
Following this diagnosis, an insider claimed that Davina was hoping to wed Michael in the New Year. Little did they know what was around the corner, though…
Davina McCall ends 2025 as a newlywed
It was revealed in the second week of December that Davina and her partner Michael had secretly tied the knot in a private ceremony – what a way for Davina McCall to end her 2025! The intimate wedding was attended by the couple’s nearest and dearest.
The 58-year-old presenter wore a white lace minidress, matching lace cap and a shaggy faux fur-effect coat.
It’s no surprise they wanted to keep their nuptials under wraps, as the pair are quite private about their relationship.
Davina previously explained why this was the case.
She said: “We’ve got an agreement that I don’t talk about our relationship, because our exes and kids don’t have a right to reply, so it’s not fair. Privacy keeps our relationship special to us. There’s something lovely about it and that’s all it is. It keeps it really magical and I like that.
“I would never talk about how our relationship works, about arguments or even things like what we eat for breakfast and who drives the other crazy. I want to keep that for me,” she said.
Davina added: “I will give you guys everything. But there are one or two things that I just want to keep to myself, and he’s one of them.”
Michael agreed to, as while hosting an Instagram Live session he noticed a lot of fans were giving their congratulations. He responded: “There’s lots of congratulations here. Wow, amazing. Thank you, thank you.”
He then added: “We tried hard to keep it private, which is why there’s no pictures. Thank you everybody for the congratulations. It’s very nice.”
Read More: Davina McCall ‘can’t wait’ to become a grandmother: ‘Bring it on!’
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