Davina McCall ‘taking everything slow’ as she returns to gym after brain surgery

Davina McCall has said she is “taking everything nice and slow” as she returns to fitness training after recovering from surgery for a “very rare” benign brain tumour.

The former host of Big Brother, 57, revealed in November that a colloid cyst had been found after she was offered a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, she said: “Ok I’m back training. Been walking daily. Yesterday I did 15 minutes in the gym… just to see.

“I’ve lost a lot of muscle so gonna eat really well and train hard !!”

McCall has a fitness community called Own Your Goals Davina which is currently promoting a new six-week strength and sculpt challenge with fitness coach Richard Callender.

Speaking about this, she said: “This @ownyourgoalsdavina challenge has come at the perfect time … feels quite humbling … but in a good way.

“Taking everything nice and slow… really listening to my body… #strengthandsculpt… 20 mins with @richcallender on OYG … who is with me ?”

McCall, is an advocate for health and wellbeing, having launched her own line of fitness equipment and cookbooks as well as multiple exercise DVDs.

In a video posted to social media in November, McCall described the colloid cyst as a “big” tumour, 14mm wide, that is “very rare”, adding: “It needs to come out, because if it grows, it would be bad.”

After her surgery, celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas, McCall’s boyfriend, kept her followers updated on her condition while she spent time in intensive care.

In a video post on November 25, McCall spoke about her recovery and said it was nice to be back home but added that her “short-term memory is a bit remiss”.

The next month, McCall showed fans her scar while she had her hair cut by her partner.

According to the NHS, non-cancerous brain tumours are more common in people over the age of 50, and symptoms include headaches, vision problems and drowsiness.

The host of My Mum, Your Dad has long advocated on women’s health issues, and presented a documentary called Sex, Myths And The Menopause and another on contraception called Davina McCall’s Pill Revolution.

She became an MBE in the King’s birthday honours for services to broadcasting in 2023 and was honoured with the special recognition award at the National Television Awards for her broadcasting career last year.