Davina McCall broke down in tears as she made her first public appearance since undergoing brain surgery.
In November, the 57-year-old TV presenter and Masked Singer judge underwent a successful operation to remove a 14mm-wide benign tumour, a colloid cyst, from her brain.
On Thursday (12 December), McCall gave a speech at an event at All Saints Church, Fulham, to support the Brain Tumour Research Campaign charity, where her neurosurgeon Kevin O’Neill is a chair.
“Thank you all for being here,” she told the audience on Thursday, admitting she was already feeling emotional. “I know lots of you here are on your own brain tumour journey and many of you have lost loved ones to a brain tumour.”
She added: “I lost my sister to a brain tumour in 2012 and my ex father in law a year ago.”
The Brain Tumour Research Campaign raises awareness of the need for an increase in brain tumour research funding, and funds projects involving research scientists and clinicians to improve brain tumour treatments and work towards finding a cure.
The charity thanked McCall for her attendance in a post online, writing: “What a truly magical Christmas celebration evening. Our evening began with our incredible chairman, Kevin O’Neill, setting the tone with his warmth and passion.
“We were then moved by the inspiring words of the wonderful Davina McCall who shared her personal story with such courage and grace.
“Her message about the importance of funding for brain tumour research truly resonated with us all. Thank you, Davina, for being such a powerful voice for this cause.”
McCall’s sister Caroline Baday died from lung and bone cancer aged 50, after two tumours were found on her brain.
In November, McCall announced that she had undergone surgery for a benign brain tumour that was discovered after she was offered a courtesy health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work.
Colloid cysts are small fluid-filled sacs located in or around the lateral and third ventricles of the brain, according to the London Neurology Partnership. They affect only three in a million people.
In a health update shared on 2 December, McCall thanked her specialist surgeon, O’Neill, for removing “the whole thing” and told fans that she was recovering.
However, McCall recounted giving O’Neill and her boyfriend, the celebrity hairstylist Michael Douglas, a “scare” when she woke up extremely confused after the operation.
“I know I gave [O’Neill] and Michael a bit of a scare after the operation because I was so confused,” said McCall. “But I’m doing so well now, and I just wanted to thank him and all the team for taking such really good care of me,” she said in a post shared online.
Following her operation, McCall told her followers that her short-term memory had been affected, but it was something that was getting better every day.
McCall rose to fame presenting the Channel 4 reality show Big Brother, and has gone on to front programmes including Comic Relief, The Million Pound Drop, and ITV’s My Mum, Your Dad. She is also a judge on the ITV shows The Masked Singer and The Masked Dancer.
In recent years, McCall has become an advocate for raising awareness around menopause. In 2022, she released a book titled Menopausing: The Positive Roadmap To Your Second Spring, with the aim of ending “the shame and horrific misinformation surrounding menopause”.
