Davina McCall was 'almost grateful' for cancer experience because of one moving reason

Davina McCall has always been frank and open about her health battles, sharing her journey through her brain tumour and breast cancer with fans.

But as the TV icon picked up the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Davina opened up like never before, revealing the moving reason why she feels “almost grateful” - and it has to do with her husband, Michael Douglas.

Davina shared that losing her short term memory as part of her brain tumour "pushed us apart", with her hairdresser husband "worrying if [she] was ever going to come back". It was going through breast cancer afterwards that "smushed" them back together.

The Long Lost Family host said, "At the end of brain-tumour-gate, cancer brought us together. The tumour pushed us apart because I had no short term memory - I was over here trying to get better and he was over worrying if I was ever going to come back.

"But cancer smushed us back together in such a weird way, it was just a beautiful way for us to just reconnect and rebond. I was almost grateful for that experience".

"I caught it early so I did make a full recovery but there was something about it that we needed."

That wasn’t the only new insight Davina shared while collecting her award. She shared that an unlikely fellow celebrity proved to be an invaluable support for her during her cancer treatment - comedian Peter Kay.

Davina started by revealing how differently the two diagnoses hit her - with her response to the brain tumour in 2024 allowing her to feel in control while breast cancer a year later left her "angry”.

She said, "I had this brain tumour diagnosis and I spoke about it because I was going to disappear off the face of the earth for three months. So I said exactly what it is, how big it is and the name of it so [the media] could cover everything they needed to, and I would be left alone. It was a really good way of dealing with it.

"But when I got breast cancer, it was like... I could really disappear and not talk to anybody about this, but I can’t because I have done this before.

"And do you know who helped me? It was Peter Kay. He called me when I was in hospital with my brain tumour. And I don’t really know him that well, but he was unbelievably supportive.

And then when I had my breast cancer diagnosis, he helped, and he just talked me through He said, ‘I think you know what you want to do. And I was like, ‘Yeah I want to talk about it.'

"I was kind of angry about having to talk about it because I knew I was going to be questioned about HRT and there was going to be judgment around that."

Fortunately, things are looking much better. Davina completed preventative radiotherapy in early 2026 and shared in April that she was all clear. She also married her husband in late 2025 in a small, intimate wedding before having a huge party to celebrate it after she had the all-clear earlier this summer.