DAVINA MCCALL DESCRIBES MEMORY LOSS AFTER BRAIN SURGERY

Davina McCall has said she experienced memory problems similar to advanced Alzheimer's disease following surgery to remove a brain tumour. Speaking on Paloma Faith's podcast, Mad, Sad and Bad, McCall said that after the operation she could not remember anything, including the fact that she had undergone surgery at all. She recalled a member of hospital staff asking her every day whether she could remember their name, and said she would reply that she did not know. McCall said her partner, Michael, would visit her in hospital for two hours, leave briefly and return, and she would not realise he had already been there. She added that she could not watch a film for six months because she could not remember what had happened fifteen minutes earlier, and could not recall the previous page while reading a book.

McCall, known for presenting Big Brother and for judging The Masked Singer, had the tumour, described as a colloid cyst, removed in November 2024 after it was discovered during a health check carried out as part of her work on menopause advocacy. The cyst was benign. She said it was a year after the operation before she first woke up able to remember what she had done the previous day. McCall also revealed last November that she had undergone surgery for breast cancer, and described 2025 as the hardest year for both herself and her partner.

According to the NHS, later-stage symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include significant problems with both short and long-term memory. The health service notes that Alzheimer's is a progressive condition in which symptoms worsen gradually over years, whereas memory problems following brain surgery tend to be most severe shortly afterwards before stabilising and improving over subsequent weeks and months. McCall did not say whether she required further treatment beyond the surgery itself.