"AT 40, I'M RIGHT WHERE I WANT TO BE"
She might still be like a giddy teenager who gets over-excited about the contestants on Big Brother having a drunken snog, but the show’s host Davina McCall is actually about to turn 40. And she’s really rather happy about it. ‘I was a disturbed teen and battled with some demons in my 20s, but I’m absolutely where I want to be at 40, and I’m going to celebrate,’ she tells us.
Davina will enter her fifth decade a month from today, on 16 October, and she’s not planning on a nice, sedate, middle-aged soiree by way of celebration. ‘I’m going to have a party and the theme is mutton! I’m going to wear an outfit I used to go clubbing in when I was 18, a bright-pink leotard with a skirt attached. I intend to look chronically mutton. I’m also going to learn the dance routines from High School Musical.’
But despite the celebrations, Davina does admit she’s struggling to get her head around the idea of the big 4-0. ‘It’s quite weird. I feel 20 and I don’t understand. My husband isn’t 40 for another two years, so he keeps teasing me about it. I’m starting to tell people I’m 40 already, easing myself in, so it doesn’t come as such a shock. Because, at 40, you think, “Wow, 50 is only 10 years away.”’
As for what her husband Matthew will be buying Davina for her 40th, that remains a surprise, but Davina is planning on getting herself a present. ‘I’m having a new tattoo for my birthday. I love my tattoos. I want something big-ish to go with my horns and my alien. I’m also going to get the chilli peppers on my back covered up, because everybody thinks they’re carrots and that’s not cool.’
DAVINA'S DECADE
1960s
Davina was born in London in 1967 and grew up with her grand-parents after her ‘wild child’ French mother returned to Paris.
1970s
When she was 13, she moved in with her dad and his new wife. She went to The Godolphin And Latymer School in London, whose other celebrity pupils include Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nigella Lawson and Kate Beckinsale. During her teens, Davina developed anorexia, which she puts down to a desperate need for attention.
1980s
Davina started dating Eric Clapton, an old family friend, who tried to help her make it as a singer. When that failed, she worked as a model booker, ran a restaurant for two years, was a singing waitress in Paris, and then a nightclub hostess. In her early 20s, Davina became addicted to drugs, using cocaine, ecstasy and heroin.
1990s
Davina turns her life around, thanks to her big break presenting on MTV. She then went on to host ITV’s God’s Gift and Streetmate on Channel 4. In 1997, she married Andrew Leggett, but they soon split, and she went on to meet ex-Pet Rescue presenter Matthew Robertson in 1999 while the pair were walking their dogs in the park.
2000s
2000 was a top year for Davina – she married Matthew and hosted the first series of a little TV show known as Big Brother. Now, eight series later (and with a few TV flops, such as a failed chat show and the BBC’s He’s Having A Baby, under her belt), Davina is still at the helm of the UK’s top reality show. She’s also managed to squeeze in the births of three kids – Holly, six, Tilly, four, and Chester, who had his first birthday on Friday.
Mirror
