Davina McCall makes ‘enormous leap forward’ and is out of ICU after surgery to remove brain tumour | Ents & Arts News

Davina McCall has made an “enormous leap forward in the last 24 hours”, her partner has said on her Instagram.

In an update, her partner Michael Douglas, said: “Update folks. 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 She is ‘loving awareness’. Thank you xx Michael.”

The post also featured a bright pink text image, which said, “massive relief to see some light breaking through,” followed by four heart emojis.

“Thanks for all the good vibes coming in from all angles. Up and up,” it added.

Friends and fellow celebrities were quick to comment on the update, with actress Patsy Palmer writing, “sending healing,” Dame Kelly Holmes commenting “awesome news Michael” and Jools Oliver adding three heart emojis.

The 57-year-old television presenter had revealed in a video posted on Instagram earlier on Friday she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.

Speaking in the short video ahead of her operation, McCall had explained to her followers the benign tumour was around 14mm wide and “needed to come out, because if it grows it would be bad”.

She said a surgeon would remove the cyst through the top of her head in a procedure called a craniotomy.

In her video post, the former Big Brother host said she was “in good spirits,” and would be in hospital “for around nine days” following the procedure.

According to the NHS, non-cancerous brain tumours are slow-growing and unlikely to spread, but are still serious and can be life-threatening.

McCall’s partner is sharing updates from McCall’s account while she is recovering. This is his second update since her operation.

McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.

She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, and currently presents ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.

Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.

In recent years, McCall has spoken regularly on women’s health and the effects of menopause in a bid to break taboos around the subject. Her 2022 book, Menopausing, won book of the year at the British Book Awards.

The same year, McCall fronted the Channel 4 documentary Davina McCall: Sex, Mind And The Menopause, and told the BBC that the perimenopausal symptoms caused her difficulties multi-tasking and she considered that she had a brain tumour or Alzheimer’s disease at the time.

Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.

She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.