Davina McCall was ‘really angry and stamping feet’ after breast cancer diagnosis

Davina McCall has opened up about how angry she was to find out about her breast cancer diagnosis a year after undergoing surgery for a benign brain tumour.

The TV personality, 58, revealed on Saturday via a candid social media video that she was diagnosed with breast cancer a few weeks ago, and promptly had a lump removed.

It’s been a devastating year for Davina, who called her brain tumour diagnosis and craniotomy surgery the ‘hardest’ time in her life, so this second huge health blow left her angered.

During a Dine With Davina charity event, the Daily Mail reports Davina recalled: ‘I got really f*****g angry. And you know me, I’m a pacifist – I don’t really get angry – I’m like Tigger. I’m just always happy.

‘I was like: ‘Are you f******g joking? What the f**k! Are you serious?’

‘I was keeping it all in and Michael [Douglas, her celebrity hairdresser partner] one day looked at me and he said: “Stop. I can see what you’re doing. You’re not going there.” He said: “Let’s talk about it.” I said: “I’m fine.”

‘He said: “You’re not fine.” I was like: “No, no, I’m fine. Honestly. I’m not f*****g fine, that’s why I’m f*****g mad.”

‘He just sat and he came and watched me and I was f*****g stamping my feet. And it felt so good.’   

Elsewhere at the event, Davina said in an interview that although she has to undergo radiotherapy in the new year, she’s happy to see the back of 2025.

‘I can’t wait for New Year’s Eve. Goodbye 2025. I was f**king angry about that. But I’ve had incredible care and I feel a lot more positive now I’m on the other side of it,’ she said.

Davina – who said doctors couldn’t ‘quite believe’ how early she caught the breast cancer – reiterated that her biggest intention in speaking out about her ordeal is to prompt other women to check their breasts for lumps, like she did after seeing a poster while at work.

In her social media video announcing her breast cancer diagnosis on Saturday morning, Davina said: ‘Hello. I am talking about this because I think it may 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’s TV show had put signs on the back of all the doors saying to “check your breasts” and every time I went for a wee, I did that.’

Having found a little lump a few weeks ago, Davina checked it again after seeing the sign.

‘It was still there. One morning I saw it in the mirror and thought I needed to get it looked at, so I had a biopsy and found out that it was indeed breast cancer,’ she revealed.

Davina then went on to say she had it taken out in a lumpectomy nearly three weeks ago.

‘The margins were 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. My lymph nodes were clear and I didn’t have any removed. All I am 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.’

She then went on to offer a ‘massive thank you’ to the staff at the Royal Marsden Hospital, as well as her family, kids and partner Michael Douglas.

‘It’s been a lot. I was very angry when I found out, but I let go of that and feel in a much more positive place now. I think my message is, get checked if you’re worried. Check yourself regularly. If you are due a mammogram, then get it done.’

Now, Davina, who says she used to ‘love stress’ and ‘firing on all cylinders’ is making a change in her life to stop, breathe and take a moment to be present.

In November Davina was hospitalised and underwent a serious surgery after a random health check discovered a 14mm benign tumour, known as a colloid cyst.

Months after the operation – and following a difficult recovery – Davina was given the all-clear in April 2025.

While hosting this year’s Comic Relief in April, Davina held back tears as she shared:  ‘I had a pretty mad year this year. Doctors found a benign brain tumour by chance and after a lot of deliberating I had it removed.

‘And 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.’

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