19 February 2006
SundayMirror
There's one thing TV chat host ISN'T keen to talk about.. her disastrous and brief first marriage
TV HOST Davina McCall claims she's not afraid to get underneath the skin of her celeb chat show guests... but there's one topic SHE certainly wants to keep mum about.
The Sunday Mirror can reveal how she is desperate to keep a secret ex-husband out of the public eye.
The excitable Big Brother hostess, paid £1m to front new BBC show called simply Davina, has never talked about her ill-fated first marriage - that lasted just three months.
Teetotal Davina, 38, has regularly confessed to having suffered anorexia as a teenager and having been hooked on class A drugs.
But she has stayed tight-lipped about her disastrous marriage to shop manager Andrew Leggett in 1997.
Davina, one of Britain's richest women - earning £1million a year - has only ever said about it: "I fell madly in love, but it was wrong, so I got out quick. I won't talk about it because he's not a celebrity and it's not fair on him."
However, we can reveal that Davina's whirlwind romance with 6ft 2in tall Leggett, 35, was marred by constant rowing.
And as these exclusive pictures show, they weren't afraid of hanging out their dirty linen in public.
The warring couple were snapped bawling at each other in the street, outside Davina's former flat in West London, seven years ago.
At the time, a neighbour said: "There was one hell of a row, you could hear them halfway down the street.
"It was all very emotional and it looked like Davina was in tears."
Davina, who is now happily married to ex-Pet Rescue presenter Matthew Robertson and pregnant with his third child, first met Mr Leggett in March 1997.
They wed just six months later but split the following December, with Davina telling friends she wanted a divorce.
The presenter, who was hosting Don't Try This At Home at the time, later went on to date soccer bad boy Stan Collymore before meeting her current husband.
Davina is now one of the leading British female TV personalities. She earned £550,000 from the fifth Big Brother series and £250,000 for presenting Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year.
But last Wednesday Davina's new Parkinson-style chatshow drew in just 3.5 million viewers and was panned by the critics.
Apart from presenting, Davina is believed to have earned £350,000 for being the face of Garnier Nutrisse hair colouring and £200,000 from her Christmas fitness video.
She currently lives with her husband and daughters Holly, four, and Tilly, two, in a six-bedroom, £2million detached home in Woldingham, Surrey.
Despite being coy about her previous marriage, she has spoken openly about her drug addiction. For six years from the age of 18 she was addicted to class A drugs while working as a club hostess in Soho, west London.
She said: "I was a complete mess. You name it, I took it. Cocaine, Ecstasy, even heroin - although I never injected.
"It was all or nothing for me... it was a wild party time, three hours sleep a night."
She claims her troubled past armed her with the skills to make her a down-to-earth TV presenter. She once said: "Because of the mistakes I've made, I can be less judgmental of others."
Last night Mr Leggett, who now works as a holistic healer, said: "I can't say anything."
