After her life-saving brain surgery last year, Davina McCall has spoken out on sexless marriages, saying there there are ‘other ways to show beautiful intimacy’
Davina McCall has made some candid comments about the advantages of being in a sexless marriage after her life-saving operation last year.
The mum-of-three, 57, underwent gruelling surgery after discovering a 14mm benign tumour on her brain during a routine check-up while advocating for menopause health. Thankfully, the operation was successful, with Davina continuing to recover. However, she did admit that the ordeal affected her relationship with her boyfriend, Michael Douglas, who she has been with since 2019.
Asked to share her thoughts on marriage and whether it can still work without sexual intimacy, Davina, who is hosting a new show called Stranded On Honeymoon Island, said: “I believe, having talked to lots of experts, that it can. You can have beautiful intimacy together without the act of sex itself. You can hug naked and both know that it’s not going to lead to sex.”
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However, talking to Good Housekeeping, she pointed out that both partners needed to agree as she continued: “As long as both people want a sexless relationship. The problem is, is if you want a sexless relationship and the other person doesn’t, then the other person is being asked to sacrifice something that they will miss and then potentially go and look for somewhere else. That won’t work in the end.”
Following her brain surgery Davina, who was married to the dad of her three kids Matthew Robertson for 17 years, admitted that she and Michael, who has been a pillar of support during her recovery, have a policy of ‘radical honesty’ between them, which has lead to the hairdresser admitting he’s grown to find her ‘annoying’ due to her memory issues.
She shared: “I said to him, ‘Michael, I’ve noticed you don’t want to be around me much. If you feel differently about me, it’s fine, I understand’.
“He said, ‘It’s because you’re annoying at the moment,’ and I’ve never been so relieved to be told that I’m annoying.”
Last November, a scan revealed that Davina had a rare type of tumour that ‘very, very rarely’ can ’cause sudden death’. She underwent successful surgery to remove it via a craniotomy.
However, a side effect was temporary short-term memory loss, which she said was ‘improving every day’.
Last month, the Long Lost Family star bravely admitted she wasn’t afraid of dying anymore as she told Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place: “I am not afraid of dying anymore. It was the biggest journey of my life. It was an amazing time.
“I have been on a massive life journey, and I have been through terrible struggles. That is where the learning comes from. If something really hard happens now, I know it is a good thing.”
If the operation, which lasted for five hours, had not been successful, Davina could have suffered a stroke or lost her ability to ‘hold a short-term memory beyond five minutes’.
However, if the cyst had remained undetected, or if the Long Lost Family star had chosen not to have it removed, she could have died ‘suddenly’ without any warning or chance to say goodbye to her family and friends, according to The Times.
Speaking about the removal of the tumour while co-presenting this year’s Red Nose Day for Comic Relief, Davina admitted it was “the hardest thing I’ve ever been through” as she thanked her family and Michael for supporting her.
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