Davina McCall's family life – mum heartache, 'traumatic' divorce and mini-me daughter

Fans have all shed a tear watching Davina McCall bring families together in the heartwarming reunion ITV show Long Lost Family but not much is known about her own family life.

Raised by her grandparents after her parents’ divorce, the Masked Singer judge has had two marriages, three children and is currently loved-up with her new beau Michael Douglas.

As the TV star continues to wow with her ageless looks and dominate some of Britain’s most popular TV shows, let’s unmask the family life of Davina from the strained relationship with her late mother to her amazing bond with her loving children.

Relationship with mum

Born in Wimbledon to her French mother Florence and English father Andrew, the now 54-year-old TV star was raised by her grandparents after her parents split when she was just three-years-old.

With Davina’s mum soon moving back to France and leaving her in the UK, the pair’s relationship became strained and distant when Florence was often absent from important moments in Davina’s life.

Speaking about her relationship with her mother, Davina previously said on Jonathan Ross: “She was incapable of mothering, so I always tried to get her to do motherly things. But it never quite happened and it left me yearning for more all the time.

“I was so confused, I didn’t know how to be around her but I worshipped her and I know she loved me too but not in a conventional way.”

Davina has also previously said the situation was “just very sad” and also claimed her mother had a problem with alcohol.

Speaking on BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? in 2009, she said: “She probably shouldn’t have had kids because she was still a big kid herself,” she said.

“Obviously she drank a lot, and from a really early age – a bit too young. I know she smoked magic cigarettes. She called them magic cigarettes but I kind of knew what they were from about eight. Just not appropriate behaviour.”

The mother-of-three once recalled being left in a nightclub in Paris at just 12-years-old by Florence and claims the pair had a final argument in 2000 when Florence sold a story claiming Davina had relapsed into a drug addiction a week before her wedding to Matthew Robertson.

When Florence passed away in 2008 in South Africa, Davina admitted she felt “relief” and made the decision to not attend the funeral.

Blended Family

Despite living a life in the spotlight, the former Big Brother star is fiercely protective of the privacy of her three kids and her partner Michael Douglas.

After splitting from her first husband Andrew Leggett back in 1997 after just six months of dating, the star sadly endured her second failed marriage after 17 years with her second husband Matthew Robertson.

She said about the split in 2020 to You magazine: “Going through a divorce is a traumatic experience and it is something that needs to be navigated as carefully as possible.

“Two years on, we have both grown as people, and we can now co-parent happily and acknowledge that it was the right thing for us to go through, even though it involved absolute emotional turmoil.”

Before their split in 2017, the pair had three children, daughters Holly, 20 and Tilly, 18, and son Chester, 15. Davina now happily co-parents with ex-husband Matthew and is loved-up with her boyfriend Michael, who was Davina’s long-time friend before they started dating, in 2019.

Since confirming her romance with Michael the star has spoken about keeping the relationship as private as possible.

In an interview with You magazine, she said: “I will never sit here and go into great details [on her relationship with Michael]. And the reason for that is all down to respect. I have a huge amount of respect for Matthew, I have respect for my children and the same goes for Michael’s family.”

Parenting skills

Davina gave fans a sneak peak into her parenting technique recently when she admitted she doesn’t like to say no to her children or micro-manage their lives.

Giving an insight into her family life, she told The Sun she believe her kids always “deserve to be heard”.

She revealed: “Having these discussions with my kids has meant that we’ve never had slamming doors, I also feel like I’m getting to know them better, and they understand me better.

“It’s been an amazing rule that has worked so well because it’s meant that we talk, and talking is always good.”

Eldest daughter Holly appears to be following in her fitness guru mother’s footsteps as she is currently studying to be a dietician at university in Newcastle.

Chatting about her relationship with Holly, she told Woman and Home: “My oldest daughter, Holly, is a young adult and we’re at the stage where we’re so close, it feels like we’re best friends, but I don’t want that. You need to be their friend but you have to look after them too – and give advice they don’t want to hear.”

Davina admitted she is still “clinging” on to Tilly, who is planning to move out next autumn when she starts university.

But she added although it will be strange for it just to be her and Chester, she is also excited about the change as she has started to watch Arsenal matches with her son.

Speaking about her own mental health, Davina said she feels “blue” when her children are having a difficult time and will try and help them to work through it.

She added: “My uncle told me that kids go into a tunnel at around 12, by which point you can’t teach them any more, they just have to learn from their mistakes. You have to teach them everything before then.”

Davina also recently declared that she wouldn’t be against it if her children decided they wanted to appear on hit ITV series Love Island.

She said to The Sun: “I’d say: ‘Fill your boots, but have a think about it – let’s talk about the pros and the cons.’

“They can decide, because they’d be over 18 and after that you can only really guide them.

“If they ask my advice, I feel lucky, because I must have done something right if they still value my opinion. I give my kids quite a lot of freedom, but they tend not to use it.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk