DAVINA'S NEW LEASE OF LIFE

The presenter tells us how brain surgery has changed her - and why she's so passionate about helping women to have good births

- INTERVIEW: LAURA BENJAMIN

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster year," Davina McCall tells HELLO! with rather a lot of understatement. “It’s been such a funny journey, but I’m feeling really good again.”

Speaking with her trademark optimism, ten months after undergoing surgery to remove a rare benign brain tumour, she says: “It really changed me, in a good way. My subconscious knows what to do or which direction to take, so I'm always trying to listen to my heart.”

The effervescent presenter is at her bubbly best when talking to us in this exclusive interview about her latest projects. Back on our screens as the host of Stranded on Honeymoon Island, the 57-year-old is also hugely enthusiastic about her new book, Birthing, which is published this week.

But above all, the mother of three is grateful that she can celebrate her good health with her loved ones and her boyfriend of six years, the hairdresser Michael Douglas.

“I hold my family very close; they and Michael have been amazing and helped get me through everything,” she says. “The people [I bump into] in the street have been lovely, too. I get nods and winks and big smiles and I love it. It’s so nice.”

Michael kept Davina’s fans updated about her recovery while she was in hospital. How did the experience change their relationship? “It’s been a big old journey for both of us, and what's been amazing is that our relationship has strengthened, in a very deep way,” she says.