- Do YOU have a story? Email tips@dailymail.com
Davina McCall has spoken publicly for the first time about her surprise engagement to Michael Douglas – after confirming she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The TV presenter announced their engagement in September as the couple moved on from a turbulent year, during which McCall underwent brain surgery to remove a benign tumour.
Now preparing for a fresh health battle after being diagnosed with breast cancer, McCall, 58, admits she was completely blindsided by his decision to ask for her hand in marriage.
‘It was a total surprise,’ she told HELLO! ‘Michael is very funny and had spent the past two years getting down on bended knee and tying an imaginary shoelace on my finger.
‘When he actually did it for real, I was terrified he was joking. But he had prepared something incredibly thoughtful… I respected that.’
Douglas, a celebrity hairstylist who originally met McCall while they worked together on reality show Big Brother, proposed during a summer break in Ibiza.
Davina McCall has spoken publicly for the first time about her surprise engagement to Michael Douglas – after confirming she has been diagnosed with breast cancer
The TV presenter announced their engagement in September as the couple moved on from a turbulent year, during which McCall underwent brain surgery to remove a benign tumour
‘We were hugging, kissing, crying – and then we heard these swimmers going: “Yay, congratulations!” McCall recalled of the moment he proposed.
Close friends for years, the couple embarked on a relationship in 2019, shortly after her 18-year first marriage to Matthew Robertson – with whom she raises children Holly, Tilly and Chester – ended in divorce.
But while she looks to the future with her fiancé, McCall – who once said she would never remarry – insiste she has no interest in wearing a conventional engagement ring.
‘I always said I don’t want one,’ she said, insisting that her wedding ceremony, when it happens, will be ‘very small and private.’
‘Getting married at this stage of life is so different… it’s a big deal,’ she added.
Speaking to HELLO while attending the publication’s inaugural Second Act Power List event, McCall admitted a combination of personal contentment and the inevitable wisdom that comes with age has given her a newfound optimism.
‘I’m grateful for every minute,’ she said. ‘I’m the happiest I have ever been. I’m in such a good space, and age has given me that.’
