Davina McCall: ‘The menopause hit me hard – I felt so alone’

When TV presenter Davina McCall began suffering her first menopausal symptoms aged 44, she had no idea what was happening.

What followed were some very difficult years, and she admits to struggling to cope and feeling alone. For Davina, HRT (hormone replacement therapy) has since helped her enormously, but she still firmly believes there’s not enough education, support or discussion around the menopause.

In an attempt to address that, Davina, now 53, has filmed a documentary for Channel 4, Davina McCall: Sex, Myths And The Menopause. Here, she candidly reveals her own experiences and what changes need to be made so that women feel better supported.

“I first started getting signs [of the menopause] when I was 44. I was on a photo shoot in Prague and, one night, I was suddenly unable to sleep – the day after I felt like I’d aged 10 years overnight,” recalls Davina, who is dating hairdresser boyfriend Michael Douglas, and shares kids Holly, 19, Tilly, 17, and Chester, 14 with ex-husband Matthew Robertson.

“I had such a bad hot flush in the make-up chair one day that I actually asked the make-up girl if the chair was heated. It did cross my mind that it could be the menopause, but I thought, ‘I’m too young... that happens to women in their fifties’. I felt embarrassed. I felt washed up and unable to talk to anyone about it. [It] hit me hard and I really struggled to cope.”

“I had severe [vaginal] dryness – so severe that when I tried to wipe myself after going to the loo, I’d have to dab, but I had no idea that was part of being peri-menopausal [the time during which your body makes the natural transition to menopause, which can start in your 40s or even earlier].

“We need to talk about it and not be ashamed. Making this film and talking about this personal stuff on camera wasn’t easy, but I’m not going to be ashamed about a transition that half the population goes through!”

“I was very lucky because I had a great gynaecologist. It was probably 2014 [two years after Davina’s symptoms started] and he was the one who said, ‘It’s OK, you can try [HRT]’. I said, ‘I don’t want to get breast cancer’, and he told me everything [in 2002, a study came out that strongly linked HRT to breast cancer.

“Further studies have found the link is not as severe as first thought and also that there can be health benefits to HRT too, like a decreased chance of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease]. I wasn’t aware of the health benefits and once I’d heard about those I was like, ‘This is a no brainer; it’s probably giving me a slight increased risk in this area but I am very conscious of checking myself non-stop.

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“I’m very careful, I don’t smoke, I exercise, I do everything I can to stay fit and healthy.’ But osteoporosis is no joke and heart disease is a huge killer of people over 50.

“My dad has Alzheimer’s and it helps with brain health and cognitive health so, for me it was a no brainer.”

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“What’s so sad is there are a very small handful of male and female doctors and gynaecologists who are very informed, open-minded and forward thinking. But there are a whole host of other health care professionals who are nervous about prescribing HRT or talking about the menopause because they just don’t know enough about it.

“That’s not their fault. There is a failing, I think, somewhere along the line possibly in their training or with the government. I often think when you go to the doctor’s surgery, half of their patients will be women and 100 per cent of those women will go through the menopause, so it seems right to me that a GP would learn about the menopause and all the different ways you can treat it.”

Davina McCall: Sex, Myths And The Menopause, Wed 12 May, 9pm, C4

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