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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Scarlett O'Toole

Davina McCall shares plans to train as a doula to help women through labour

Davina McCall is best known for her time hosting reality show Big Brother, though she has now revealed her next big career move will take her away from the limelight.

The 54-year-old presenter is set to train to become a doula to help women through labour. She reportedly found the support invaluable during the births of her three children — Holly, 20, Tilly, 18, and Chester, 15 — at home.

Davina also hopes to use her new expertise to help her daughters and son's partner give birth when the time comes.

Doulas are not medically trained and have a different role to a midwife. They earn around £600 per birth and give mothers-to-be a little extra support when giving birth.

Davina wants to help other women through labour (ITV/Harry Page/REX/Shutterstock)

"I had all my babies at home and it was the best experience of my life. I laughed, I wept with joy.

"I said I couldn’t do it and was supported by the people around me, so I am going to learn to be a doula," Davina told MailOnline.

She added: "I’m praying that my daughters or my son’s partner ask me to be at their births."

A-list celebrities including Nicole Kidman and Alicia Keys have said they have also enlisted the help of a doula.

Doulas differ from midwives (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

It was also reported that Meghan Markle employed London-based Dr Gowri Motha as a doula for the births of her two children, Archie and Lilibet.

Meghan, 41, is said to have phoned Dr Motha from America to prepare for her daughter's birth last year. His other clients have included Gwyneth Paltrow, Stella McCartney and Madonna.

Women working with a doula have been found to have greater breastfeeding success, more confidence in their abilities as a mother and lower rates of postnatal depression.

Davina fronted the documentary Sex, Mind and the Menopause (Ryan Mcnamara)

Davina has recently been helping to raise awareness of the menopause. She has been at the forefront of campaigns to help women access HRT amid mass shortages.

The former Big Brother host has previously said the campaign work has given her "purpose".

Speaking to Good Housekeeping magazine, Davina said: "I sort of fell into it by accident because I wanted to learn more about the menopause for myself and, as I did, I thought, 'How is it that all women don’t know these things, when 51% of the population is female?'

"What's lovely is that being able to use my platform to spread the word has given me purpose at this stage in my life."

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