Davina McCall: I used to hate myself when I looked in the mirror

Davina McCall (Ian West/PA)

Davina McCall has said she “hated” herself when she looked in the mirror when she was younger.

The television presenter told Good Housekeeping she was previously “so critical” of her own appearance.

The 53-year-old said she now thinks she looks “fierce”.

(Scott Garfitt/PA)

She told the magazine: “When I was younger, I used to look in the mirror and I hated myself.

“It’s weird because I was so slim and toned, and yet I was so critical.

“Now I have wrinkly skin on my tummy, I have a little varicose vein down one leg, I have flabby bits on my arms, and there’s nothing I can do about it – but I think I look fierce!

“I see the same thing happening with my girls, and I think ‘Don’t worry, you’ll love yourself in the end, you just have to get through this bit’.”

(Ian West/PA)

McCall also discussed her 2017 split from husband Matthew Robertson, saying the summer after her 50th birthday was a “transitional phase” in her life.

“We’d still been living in our house together, which was awkward,” she said.

“I hadn’t moved on and I was in this weird no-man’s land.

“But then I moved out and started renting a place and that felt like the first step in a new phase.

(Good Housekeeping/PA)

“I thought ‘OK, we can look forward now’.

“It was transformative. And, since then, I’ve really tried to simplify my life and scale it down, which has been a very positive thing.”

She also urged people to support their friends if they are going through a divorce, adding: “No-one gets divorced without really thinking about it – this idea that people rush into it, that just doesn’t happen.

“It’s an enormous deal and it really is hard, so be there.”

– Read the full interview with Davina McCall in the July issue of Good Housekeeping, on sale from Wednesday.