Davina McCall's wild health journey from heroin addict to fitness empire and sugar ban
Davina McCall has transformed her health from drug addict to fitness fanatic, but she is still having to bat off negative criticism of her weight.
The former Big Brother presenter took to Instagram on Friday to hit back at online trolls who branded her as "too skinny" following a video she shared.
"I'm 57 this year and I'm happy with the way that I look, and I feel absolutely f***ing great. And so I just thought I'd post that there." She concluded: "I can't really do much about my neck and my face unless I fill it with filler.
"I don't know what to do about ... my neck is my neck. And maybe the light was bad or something and everybody's ... but all you have to do is look at the rest of my posts on my page and see that I'm not unhealthy. But this is ... this was, like, horrible.
"So I'm parking that there and I'm just saying maybe think before you post something. Wouldn't it be nicer to say something positive? And if you can't say something positive, don't bother." These days the beloved presenter is viewed as the epitome of health, with her rock-hard abs and fitness DVDs, and is an advocate for women's issues, having opened up about her struggles with the menopause.
But her lifestyle in her late fifties is a far cry from her early twenties, when she was tragically hooked on Class A drugs. In the Diary of a CEO podcast, Davina revealed she first did cocaine at the tender age of 14 with her sister, and a year later at 15 with her mother.
By 16, she had used both cocaine and heroin, and by her twenties, she was a full-blown addict, using heroin regularly. "I was a mess. You name it, I took it. Cocaine, ecstasy and heroin. Because of my mistakes I am less judgmental of others," she told The Mirror.
Davina was 19 when she formed pop group, Lazy Bear, before pursuing a career as a classical solo artist. But the star quit the music business and became a men's booker at Models 1 before a short stint as a Moulin Rogue-style cabaret performer in Paris.
It almost ended for Davina with an accidental overdose when she was trying to escape her 'dark' reality. "Drugs took me to a very, very, very dark place and, one night, I overdosed," she admitted. "It was very frightening as it was a very gradual overdose. I'd had a cocktail of drugs, because I didn't want to feel normal. I was constantly trying to escape myself - I was like a piece of fruit rotting from the inside."
She devastatingly added: "When you hate yourself so much, you think you are worthless. Someone would smile at me and I wouldn't understand why as I wasn't worth anything. I had to try and love myself but I didn't even like myself, so it was a big leap."
Classing herself a "high-functioning", she thought she was getting away with it, until a fight with a friend led to a moment of realisation. "I always wore make-up, I had a job, I didn't steal. I wasn't like your average street junkie," she told This Morning in 2016. "Everyone is different, but for me, it was when my friend said, 'Everyone is talking about you and what a mess you are,' that changed things. I thought I was fully functioning. But I wasn't. My cover was blown."
Davina reflected on the intervention at 24 in her self-help book, Lessons I've Learned, in 2016. She explained that it was her best mate Sarah that had confronted her en-route to a concert, warning her: "I know you're lying to me and I know you've been taking heroin."
She penned: "I explained I knew she was right and I wanted to change. She forgave me and we had a massive cry. I went into the NA meeting that night and my life changed. I owe NA my life, literally. But it also gave me my career," she added. Davina got clean when she was 25 with the help of ex-boyfriend Eric Clapton and went on to land a life-changing presenting gig with MTV in 1992.
She added: "And because I got clean I got the job I'd dreamed of and that changed my life forever." Davina's transition into fitness came in her mid-30s when she discovered the importance of exercise.
After becoming a mother, she wanted to look and feel her best and set out on a mission to educate others at the same time. The star released her first workout DVD in 2004, titled Davina: Power of 3, with My Three 30 Minute Workouts released the following year.
Following the release of 14 exercise DVDs in total, in 2019 she launched her online fitness and lifestyle programme 'Own Your Goals' in a bid to help people get fit. It offers hundreds of workout routines, live fitness sessions, healthy recipe ideas and wellbeing advice.
The star has opened up about giving up sugar and alcohol, having not touched a drop in 33 years. "I'm quite often all or nothing as a person... I've spent my life being quite rigid with myself," Davina shared in the February issue of Good Housekeeping.
"When my sister died 10 years ago, I literally stopped eating sugar. But that was unsustainable and now, in midlife, I've become a little bit more gentle with myself. Now I eat fruit, and for breakfast I have granola with kefir."
Davina's big sister Caroline died at the age 50 in 2012 after she was diagnosed with lung cancer, bone cancer and was told by doctors that she had two tumors on her brain. "She taught me so much in her death. She was so brave. She never once complained. She never once got frightened, she never cried, and she tried to look after me," Davina explained when discussing her sister's death earlier this year.
Speaking in her latest magazine interview, Davina went on to tell Good Housekeeping how her love of exercise is crucial for keeping her mental health on track, as well as her physical health. "Page one of longevity and mental health is exercise. I exercise three or four times a week for a minimum of half an hour, but no more than 40 minutes because I don't have time," Davina admitted.
The mum-of-three added: "I don't work with a trainer. I just go on my platform, Own Your Goals Davina, and look for a boxing class or a barre class, depending on what I'm in the mood for. I never realised how good being fit felt until now."
* If you are struggling with alcohol abuse or addiction, advice and support can be found at alcoholchange.org.uk
READ ON APP