Davina McCall says fury led her to speak out about menopause

Davina McCall has said she was “furious” about the lack of knowledge around the menopause and that her anger drove her to speak out.

The 57-year-old, who has long advocated on women’s health issues and has presented documentaries on contraception and the menopause, said she knew “nothing” about it when her perimenopause began.

Speaking at Advertising Week Europe 2025 in central London, the TV presenter said: “I was f****** furious at the lack of knowledge that I had as a 43-year-old woman going through perimenopause, and (I was) terrified, lonely, not knowing what it was.

“I had no idea.

“And I thought, how, why? Why do I not know about this?

“I spoke to a couple of doctors.

“I was like, I know nothing. I literally know nothing. This is so insulting.

“There’s nothing you can do to avoid it. There’s no magic pill that you can take… It’s going to happen to all women.

“And then I thought, well, I’ll just start talking about it.”

McCall spoke about her podcast Begin Again, which was launched in October.

She said Steven Bartlett, whose company Flight Studio produces her show, initially thought she should make her podcast about the menopause.

“I actually thought it would be more about men and women and thought what podcast could I do for both men and women that would be about pivoting in life and all the things that we deal with,” McCall said.

“It’s called Begin Again, so it’s about beginning your life over. So it might be to do with career, with love, with life, with spirituality.”

The mother of three said her interest in working in media began when she helped run nightclubs as a young adult.

“I knew all these beautiful people, somebody asked me to go to run nightclub nights with them,” the former Big Brother presenter said.

“So I was doing like, Thursday, Friday, Saturday night in nightclubs as well, (I was) door bitch and from that I was asked to provide the entertainment for all the celebrities for the launch of MTV Europe.

“So I had to entertain the celebrities from Victoria train station to Amsterdam and back. It was the greatest night of my life. And I was like, I am going to work there.”

Published: 01/04/2025 by Radio NewsHub