Davina McCall delivers defiant response to online trolls who blast her bikini pics as she hits back in new interview
SHE has the sculpted abs of a Greek god and, at the age of 56, she isn’t afraid to show them.
When Davina McCall last month posted a flawless red bikini photo, it prompted 80,000 “likes” and over 3,000 comments.
The overwhelming majority were hugely positive — including “real hot girl st” from TV host Maya Jama, “Oh my gawwwwd. Picking my jaw up off the floor” from singer Ashley Roberts, and a simple “wow” from former Strictly pro dancer Oti Mabuse.
But a few trolls had their say, too. So how does Davina feel when keyboard warriors strike? “It’s an easy one,” she says. “The more stick I get, people telling me to put it away, it’s great because I’m like, ‘F* you’.
“The more people go, ‘You shouldn’t be doing that’, the more I’m going to do it. It’s immediately sort of motivational.
“And that’s why I post all my workout videos. So if I do a workout in the morning and somebody underneath replies, ‘Oh, thank you, you’ve just reminded me I’m going to go today’, that’s brilliant.
‘I don’t airbrush’
“That’s all I want to do. And it helps me when I see other people getting inspired. I like to inspire people.”
Davina revealed she was just having fun when she dressed up in red for that sizzling Insta snap.
“That was basically me messing about because I love red,” she reveals.
“I had red boots on, and then I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got a red bag, I’ve got red shades, I’m going to put all my red on’. And then I took the picture.”
Refreshingly, the presenter also refuses to airbrush her photos. So those abs? Yeah, all hers.
“I don’t airbrush, no. I’m not anti, as such, I just don’t do it,” she explains. “I read a really interesting article this week about a woman that had filtered all her growing-up years.
“She was only in her twenties, but she hadn’t got any real pictures.
“Every photo on her phone was somebody who is not quite her. And that’s sad. So for that reason, I think no. I’d rather people be pleasantly surprised by me than be disappointed when they see me in true life.
“Also, I feel a responsibility towards my kids to not change myself too much.”
Today, Davina is a veritable beacon of health, radiating wellness.
Rare triple threat
Sober for over 30 years, the former Big Brother host is a rare triple threat — presenter, fitness influencer and best-selling author.
She is about to front the second series of dating show My Mum, Your Dad — a format which has been described as Love Island for mid-lifers.
The Bafta-nominated ITV hit is warm, funny and gentle, with many of the singletons having been through painful divorces.
In a twist, the prospective couples are match-made by their offspring, who are watching the action on cameras.
In a reality world of nakedness, shagging and the use of the word “like” every two seconds, it is refreshing, old-fashioned viewing with a modern spin.
Obviously, the goal for many contestants is to find love and marry again.
Davina split from her second husband, Matthew Robertson, in 2017 after 17 years of marriage and, for the past five years, has been happily dating her long-time friend Michael Douglas. Not that Michael Douglas.
While the mum of three may have professional romance coursing through her veins — she got her big break hosting cult dating show Streetmate in 1998 — she isn’t planning on walking back down the aisle again any time soon. If ever.
We’re not interested. I knew Michael for so many years [before we got together] that there were no questions to ask like that.
Davina McCall
Chatting over sparkling water at ITV’s London White City offices, I ask if she and Michael are engaged yet.
“No,” she says.
Will you marry again? Also no.
“That’s not even on the table, it’s just not. He’s been [married before] so we both just feel like we are happy, let’s not rock the boat. Let’s just keep things on the down-low.
“We’re not interested. I knew Michael for so many years [before we got together] that there were no questions to ask like that. I know him. It was easy.”
Beyond this, Davina does not wish to be drawn on the man who does her hair (he is a celebrity hairdresser) and with whom she co-hosts a successful podcast, Making The Cut.
“I love Michael,” she concludes. “And I always feel like it’s too precious to just talk about in public. I just want to keep it for me.”
An incredibly polite way of telling me to bugger off with my intrusive questions about their sex life.
‘One and a half crumpets’
A fitness devotee, when Davina is on our TV screens she is invariably holding aloft a pair of dumbbells, running or lunging.
She has also become synonymous with the “M” word: Menopause.
Largely thanks to Davina, a whole generation of 30, 40 and 50-something women are more hormonally aware, and prepped, than ever before.
A Damehood for services to women surely awaits. (She was awarded an MBE last year for her work in TV.)
She is also keen to clear up a handful of points — how often she trains; what she does and doesn’t eat; and why anyone, with a bit of effort and self-discipline, can look like her.
She says: “People misquote me on what I eat and how much I train quite a bit, so, yeah, look — I know how to look after myself, I am better educated than I was when I was younger.
“But I have decided that I’m going to try and live, in terms of food, a much cleaner life because I have got to midlife. So, no ultra processed foods. That is the key for me.
I really try to eat stuff that I make or cook from fresh, or just keep it simple with lots of different colours.
Davina McCall
“I mean, I can’t say never because some-times, maybe once a month, I’ll have a sausage.” (That’s not a euphemism.)
“I went through a phase of eating one and a half crumpets every morning, but I’m out of that phase, just so that everybody knows.
“I really try to eat stuff that I make or cook from fresh, or just keep it simple with lots of different colours. I really try and eat better — no sugar, lots of fibre, light protein, low carbs, olive oil on everything, fermented foods like kefir and kimchi.
“I used to hate kimchi, but now I love it.”
She continues: “No sweets, no crisps. I eat almonds instead of a packet of crisps. I mean, I haven’t had a packet of crisps in, like, three weeks.
“And I feel fing amazing for it all; it is amazing the difference that no sugar has made.” She takes zinc, magnesium and vitamin D in winter and works out up to four times a week — “it would be five if I didn’t work” — and she has that shiny, glossy, healthy aura of someone who doesn’t monster a box of Krispy Kremes for breakfast.
Needless to say, she has never felt the need to try Ozempic, the fat-loss jab favoured by half of Hollywood. “I don’t fing need it!” Davina half barks back when I gently ask if she has ever tried it.
She believes the jab has a time and a place, though, for people who need it, and would never judge someone for using it.
She is also adamant that anyone can look and feel better.
‘Batch cook a meal’
“I don’t have a PT. There are free workouts on YouTube everywhere but, you know, it’s hard work,” she explains.
“Say you’re menopausal, you are tired, you might have aching joints, you might not be sleeping well at night, you might not be feeling any joy any more.
“I mean, I didn’t want to work out when I was perimenopausal.
“And there are still days when I think, ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’. But, for me, I know the mental health benefits of exercising, even if that’s just walking my dog. I know it will make me feel better.
“So I think it’s making a decision. The hardest thing about exercise is making the decision to do it. But whoever you are, the way to do it is not just through exercise — it has to be 80 per cent food.
“It’s no good eating a load of donuts for breakfast.
“Eat well, exercise more. And when I say exercise, start with a walk, where you’re walking as if you’re late for something.”
Acknowledging that “money is tight” for many people, Davina admits: “I know it’s very hard.
“I gave my daughter some money each week when she was at university to help her through, and she gave herself a £20 budget a week to eat. She would batch cook her meals.
“It’s about getting organised. And if you’re going to start thinking about what you’re eating in terms of ingredients, if there are more than five ingredients, then quite possibly it’s an ultra-processed food.
“Batch cook a meal and portion it up and put them in the freezer, and then you will always be able to make a sensible choice.”
- My Mum, Your Dad starts on Monday, September 16, at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.