EXCLUSIVE: TV presenter Davina McCall has shared an update on her relationship with partner Michael Douglas admitting that she’s in no rush to marry him
She is well known for hosting dating shows, helps set up friends in real life and is a self confessed romantic. But Davina McCall says she is unlikely to marry again as she wouldn’t change a thing about her relationship with Michael Douglas.
The TV host is fronting bold new dating series, Stranded On Honeymoon for the BBC. But when I cheekily point out it might be time for Davina to go on her third honeymoon – and her first in 25 years, she laughs and shakes her head.
“We go on honeymoons all the time, but without getting married,” she says of her and celebrity hairdresser and presenter Michael. Yeah, we’re in the honeymoon period even after all these years, exactly. I am really, really…I couldn’t be more happy. And sometimes there’s an idea of, why change anything?” It comes after Davina made a brave death admission after undergoing major brain surgery.
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“But I am also clearly not the only person to be asking her the question, as the pair have now been together for more than six years. This reminds me a lot of when I was 30,” Davina adds.
“Every time you go out with anybody, everybody’s like, ‘Are you going to get married? Are you going to get married?’.
“It’s not important anymore. I am just really happy, and I am just so happy to be so happy. And after the operation, everything is rose-tinted. I am so appreciative to be here. You know what I mean? It’s unbelievable.”
Davina was married twice and is mum to Holly, 23, Tilly, 21, and 18-year-old Chester.
Her last marriage to Matthew ended after 17 years and she went public with her new relationship with Michael in 2019. The one constant has been her continuing to be on TV screens in a wide variety of shows.
Davina still has a zest for life that oozes out of her on screen and when she talks to you, and with more reason than ever as she suggested.
By her own admission she was “very honest about having a brain tumour” last year and shared the process from the diagnosis to her November operation to remove it, and finally the all clear earlier this year. It’s definitely gave her a slightly new outlook on life and even more enthusiasm for what she does – if that’s possible.
“I love my job. I run to work. I love the people that I work with, the crews that I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with. I mean, I’ve got some really good friends now that I’ve met through work. I am so lucky to do something I love so much.
“The interest gets greater as you get older because I think as I get older, I appreciate it even more. We were just saying earlier how funny it is that I used to say it like 48, 49, “Oh, TV will retire me at 50’. And here I am at 57 and I’m still here.
“I think Cilla Black really changed things for women in TV. And I think a lot has changed and I now look at all the other female TV presenters and hopefully me, Jo Wiley, Zoe Ball, we’re all in the same boat together and we’re all still going, still relevant. I mean, they’re so cool, those two.”
Which brings us nicely onto to her new TV project. Stranded On Honeymoon Island features some speed dating before six lucky couples get matched up and take a leap of faith for love.
They are taken to the Philippines for a wedding and then a honeymoon on a remote beach to see if they have potentially found a partner for life.
“I am picky about what I do, and I do turn down lots of work. So this had to have something different to it and it didn’t disappoint. That was what was so nice about it.
“They see who they’re marrying at the wedding, and then they go to their stranded coves. And they are on six separate coves on an island, but they can’t see anybody. They’re completely alone.
“And then they can meet up after a while to meet the other couples. Everybody comes together. But then that causes its own set of problems as well because it’s like, ‘Oh, I remember you from speed dating’.
“So it’s really good. It’s gripping. It will make you laugh a lot. It’ll also make you cross your legs and want to pick up a cushion and put it in front of your face. But it’ll also make you cry because it’s really cute at times. I think the other thing that I loved at the end of it was that we’d all learnt something.”
Davina, who has previously host lots of other datings shows including Streetmate, My Mum, Your Dad, says she learned some important things about love from her late father.
She adds: “I do love ‘love’ and my dad, rest in peace, said something brilliant to me once, and he said, ‘In order for love to last and survive and be healthy, it has to have four things.
“So there has to be friendship. You have to like, not just love, but like the person that you’re with, that they are a person that you could just be friends with.
“And carnal love because you need to fancy them if it’s going to be a relationship, not just a friendship. And then he said, trust. You need to trust them and then you also need to respect them. And if any of those things are lacking, love can’t flourish. And I think he was absolutely spot on.”
Davina will also be hosting more Long Lost Family on ITV, she has her own podcast and a new book on the way. Success is almost guaranteed in some form but I wondered if her fears of some things not working are now lessened after her tumour helped her to put life in perspective. I think it is fair to say she no longer looks at the TV ratings too much.
“I mean, I’ve presented some turkeys and I’ve presented some shows that I absolutely loved. I did one for W Channel called The Davina Hour, and I ran to work. I loved hosting that show. No one watched it. I don’t know why.
“I loved My Mum, Your Dad. It didn’t get picked up for another series. And I don’t know why that happened, but it happened.
“But it doesn’t hurt my feelings because all I ever can do with any TV show that I’ve done, is know that they were good shows, but for whatever reason it didn’t work. And I know that this is a great show. I know we’ve delivered as a production company together, a brilliant show, so I’m just proud of it.”
Stranded On Honeymoon Island starts on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer on Wednesday September 3 at 9pm.
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