'I didn't know I'd had an operation': Davina McCall reveals she suffered 'advanced Alzheimer's' symptoms after brain tumour surgery

Davina McCall has revealed she emerged from her 2024 brain tumour operation with no memory of the surgery itself, unable to recognise staff who visited her daily or recall that her husband Michael Douglas had been in her room just minutes earlier. The 58-year-old told Paloma Faith's 'Mad, Sad and Bad' podcast that 2025 became the "hardest year" of her life, as she also battled a breast cancer diagnosis while still recovering from the craniotomy.

McCall said she couldn't watch films for six months or read a book, because she couldn't remember what had happened 15 minutes — or one page — earlier.

Her memory finally began to return in October 2025 after she took up singing lessons, which she credits as her "mind physio": 'Music was what healed me.'

McCall was diagnosed with breast cancer while filming 'The Masked Singer', just two months after a clear mammogram — but was given the all-clear in April 2026 following a lumpectomy.