Davina McCall fronts a show where singletons’ grown-up kids help them find love with a stranger, but her own approach to romance was the complete opposite. After splitting from second husband Matthew Robertson in 2017, she found love again not with a new Romeo but with an old friend. She first met hairstylist Michael Douglas – not the actor – while working on Big Brother from 2000 to 2010. But the pair did not become an official item until 2019. Davina says: “I was lucky that Michael is someone I already knew. When you know someone, you can trust them and you know that they know you. It’s a solid, nice feeling.” READ MORE: People left ‘mind-blown’ after discovering hack to measure spaghetti perfectly each time READ MORE: ‘I went from living in mouldy flat to being a millionaire – it was pretty easy’ The presenter, 57 next month, had not expected to fall in love again in her fifties – and had also thought her TV career would be over by this time too. Davina, who in January was made an MBE for services to broadcasting, says: “I honestly felt that I might be retired by the public by the time I was about 50. Then I got to 51 and thought ‘don’t tell anyone, no one’s noticed, I can just carry on quietly’.” And after winning a special recognition gong at the National Television Awards last week, Davina tells the Mirror backstage: “I feel like I’m having one of the greatest decades of my life. “It’s so fun.” Davina, who celebrated the award with a hug from pal Hannah Waddingham and in an A-list selfie, adds of her 49-year-old lover: “Michael Douglas… I love being on this journey with you.” The second series of her show My Mum, Your Dad launches on ITV tonight, with young adults helping match their single parents with a prospective partner. She says of the programme, based in a luxury retreat: “We call it a relationship show rather than a dating show because it’s so much more than that.” But even if she had been dating new people, Davina thinks the show would not have worked for her. She says: “My son would be kind of, ‘No, I can’t choose anybody for her, it’s just too weird ’. He just wouldn’t go there. My oldest daughter, I think, would be forensic about it. And she and my middle daughter would agree on certain points, and possibly disagree on others. “It would be quite funny to ask them – but, of course, I’m not single now.” Davina says the “kids” in the series are highly motivated to help find their parent a partner. She explains: “Because otherwise it’s all on them. It’s a big responsibility, and they want to go off and live their lives, but they feel guilty about leaving their parents alone. Loneliness was quite a big theme in this series.” This time around there will be more ways to help participants connect. “There are twice as many workshops and dates as there were last year, so lots more opportunities for people to bring out their true personalities,” Davina says. She reckons the key to love success as a mid-lifer is not basing choices on looks alone, as tends to happen more on Love Island. “That’s all youth,” she says dismissively. “Our generation want to find somebody to grow old with. “It’s almost nothing about what they look like. Humour’s really important but I’d say, more than anything, it’s on personality. Because, if you love someone’s personality, you’ll love how they look.” As well as the new series, Davina also works on Saturday night entertainment show The Masked Singer and award-winning Long Lost Family, which she fronts alongside Nicky Campbell and is now in its 14th series. But while Davina will always be best remembered for her decade on Big Brother alongside unforgettable personalities such as Jade Goody, she actually feels the most professional pride for the two menopause documentaries she made for Channel 4. “I really feel like it has made a difference for some women, because people tell me, and that feels really nice,” she says. “I love doing entertainment, but I feel like this has given me a purpose.” Next up is another project, launching soon, in which she chats to experts about issues including sex, relationships, health and exercise. She says: “I’ve always wanted to do a sort of Oprah-style show but the time’s gone for that. That was an old-style of format. Instead I’m doing a podcast which is launching in the autumn, and I’ve made that my Oprah. “It’s called Begin Again and it’s about people who, at this time of life, want to just turn from a chrysalis into a butterfly… start over, change the way they are. I’m so excited because Michael has heard me talking about wanting to do this for the past 20 years.” And after a short-lived marriage to Andrew Leggett then a longer one to Matthew, Davina plans to take care of her new relationship. Of trying to keep it out of the public eye, she explains simply: “I mean, it’s too precious.” My Mum, Your Dad, tonight at 9pm on ITV1. Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads. Join the Irish Mirror’s breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive breaking news and the latest headlines direct to your phone. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice .
Subscribe
Login
0 Comments
