Davina McCall has left her fans worried after revealing that she experienced severe memory loss following surgery to remove her brain tumour, describing her symptoms as being like 'advanced Alzheimer's.' Speaking on the Mad, Sad and Bad podcast with Paloma Faith, the TV personality, 58, recalled being unable to watch a film because she could not remember what had happened 15 minutes before, or the previous page of her book.
When her husband Michael Douglas came to visit her in hospital, she said that when he left the room and later returned she wouldn't remember him being there initially. Davina continued: 'So I couldn't remember anything.
So 2025 was the hardest year of Michael's and my lives.' Paloma asked her: 'You couldn't remember anything from when to when?' Davina replied: 'When I came out of the operation, I didn't know I'd had an operation. The staff came in every day and they'd go "what's my name" and I'd go "I don't know".' Michael would come and visit for two hours and he'd go to the loo and come back and I'd go "oh my god you're here" and I didn't know he'd been there. 'I couldn't watch a movie for six months, because I couldn't remember what had happened in the movie 15 minutes before.
A book? I couldn't remember the page before.'
The former Big Brother host then explained how she managed to regain her memory by doing singing lessons, which she described as 'mind physio.' She said: 'I did singing lessons. That was my mind physio.
Yeah, music healed me. And last October was the first time I woke up and I went, "Oh my god, I remember what I did yesterday."
In August, Davina revealed she was privately supported by comedian Peter Kay after being diagnosed with her brain tumour and breast cancer. Davina had surgery to remove the benign (non-cancerous) tumour in 2024, before being diagnosed with breast cancer the following year.
The recovery process has been a long journey for the star, who has been open about the mental and physical toll the diagnosis took on her family. She continues to advocate for health awareness while focusing on her ongoing recovery and rehabilitation.
Fans have flooded social media with messages of support, praising her for her bravery in sharing such a vulnerable experience. Her openness about the cognitive challenges she faced highlights the often-overlooked side effects of neurological surgeries.
As she continues to regain her strength, Davina remains a prominent figure in British media, using her platform to shed light on the importance of mental health and the healing power of creative therapies. The medical community has also noted her recovery as a testament to the effectiveness of neuro-rehabilitation techniques, including music therapy, in helping patients regain cognitive function after significant trauma.