Davina McCall had "advanced Alzheimer's" symptoms following brain tumour operation in "hardest year"

Davina McCall has revealed that she was left with "advanced Alzheimer's" symptoms following an operation to remove a brain tumour, with the presenter adding that it was one of the most difficult periods of her life.

The broadcaster, best known for Big Brother and The Masked Singer UK, revealed in November 2024 that she had been diagnosed with a benign brain tumour, which was subsequently removed during an operation later that year.

Speaking to Paloma Faith on the Mad Sad Bad podcast, McCall detailed some aspects of her recovery process in the ensuing months, and shared that she was affected by memory issues in the immediate aftermath.

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"After I'd had my brain tumour taken out, I had advanced Alzheimer's, so I couldn't remember anything," she said, before adding that 2025 was the "hardest year" for both her and partner Michael Douglas.

"When I came out of the operation, I didn't know I'd had an operation," recalled the presenter, who also hosts My Mum, Your Dad. "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," she continued, before noting that she couldn't watch films or read books due to her memory issues.

McCall explained that music was the art form that acted as her "mind physio", noting: "Music was what healed me. And last October was the first time I woke up, and I went, 'Oh my god, I remember what I did yesterday.'"

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McCall had another health battle following her brain tumour operation, with the presenter sharing in November that she had undergone treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year.

"I'm so relieved to have had it removed and to know that it hasn't spread," she said at the time. "All I'm gonna do now is have five days of radiotherapy in January as kind of an insurance policy, and then I am on my journey to try and stop it ever coming back."

More information about Alzheimer's is available on the NHS and Alzheimer's Society websites. Resources for readers in the US are available via the National Institutes of Health.

Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media.  His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.