TV star shared details of his pay with me so I got the same for Masked Singer, reveals Davina McCall
FOR Davina McCall, this year’s summer holidays will be quieter than usual.
The mum-of-three will battle empty-nest syndrome, as both her daughters are spending the summer away from home.
Her eldest child, dietetics undergraduate Holly, 21, is on a placement at a hospital in Newcastle, while 19-year-old Tilly is fruit-picking on a farm in Australia.
And there’s nowhere the celebrity mum feels their absence more than at her palatial new family home in Kent.
Davina, 55, says: “I miss them, and the reality is I do miss the noise.
“At times, obviously you go, ‘Please, all of you go out. You’re driving me mad!’
“But, generally speaking, I just love chaos, I love the music. I love everybody dancing.
“But we all talk a lot on the phone [and] I know they’re all happy.
“The worst thing is if they’re miles away, calling you crying. As long as they’re happy, I’m happy.”
The Long Lost Family presenter, who also has son Chester, 16, with ex-husband Matthew Robertson, has been in a relationship with celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas, 50, since 2019.
She admits it’s been weird planning their blended family summer holiday this year, minus her girls and one of Michael’s two sons.
“One of [Michael’s] boys is working in TV, on a three-month contract, so he can’t come.
“So it’s just me, Michael, his son and my son, and we’re like, ‘This is way too quiet’, so my bestie Sarah and her family are coming.”
Shortly after Davina and former Pet Rescue presenter Matthew, 54, ended their 17-year marriage in 2017, Sarah whisked the star away on a holiday abroad.
Davina says: “After I got divorced, Sarah, her husband and kids invited me to their place in Greece and I spent five days with them on holiday and I felt like I was being loved back together again.
“Going away on holiday with a friend is great therapy. My friends are everything. They have kept me sane in times of trouble.”
There is growing fondness, too, for a new set of pals — her fellow panelists on ITV’s The Masked Singer, comedian Mo Gilligan, 35, singer Rita Ora, 32, and broadcaster Jonathan Ross, 62.
Revealing that her return for another series of the show is “certainly on the cards”, Davina says: “Oh my God, I love those guys. I love Mo and send him constant photos of otters.
“We love otters. Rita, I love. I send her messages.”
Then hailing Jonathan Ross “the nicest man and an ally of women”, she reveals that when the series launched in 2020, the TV favourite shared details of his pay cheque to protect her from a possible gender pay gap.
“When I [got] my job, [Jonathan] called me and said: ‘This is what I’m being paid.
“I think you and I should get paid the same amount’.”
Insisting “there wasn’t” a huge discrepancy between her salary and Jonathan’s, Davina adds: “But he wanted to make sure there wasn’t and I love him for that.”
Last month, Davina was made an MBE for services to broadcasting, following a TV career spanning more than two decades.
This has included hard-hitting documentaries on the menopause and contraception, and famously her time presenting Big Brother.
Busy Davina is also gearing up for an exciting new job — hosting My Mum, Your Dad, which has been dubbed a Love Island for “grown-ups”, airing on ITV1 and ITVX in September.
Over ten episodes, the show follows a group of single parents who have been nominated by their grown-up children for a second chance at love.
Of her own relationship, she says Michael is a great influence on her life — and has even given her the confidence to get back on public transport.
She says: “I was frightened of taking the bus. I was like, ‘I don’t know how to do it any more’ and he was like, ‘Tap in, it’s easy.’ He’s got me doing that, and on the Tube.”
As for the next couple of months, Davina has one aim — to take it easy.
She says: “I’m going to take Chester to Copenhagen after his GCSEs, we are going on this family holiday [and] I’m doing a couple of tiny things for work. Everything’s peachy!”
- Davina is highlighting the importance of friendships at mid-life with TUI Blue.