Davina McCall's touching legacy wish after making 'end of life checklist'

Television legend Davina McCall has revealed how she hopes to be remembered after creating an "end-of-life checklist" before going under the knife to have a brain tumour removed.

The former Big Brother presenter was left shocked when a routine brain scan last year uncovered a benign tumour developing on her brain.

Davina disclosed that she wants her legacy to be that she "made people feel good" as she reflects following her frightening health ordeal, which led her to compile a checklist for her family.

Speaking to the TV Times, she said: "I guess it (what she wants her legacy to be) would be that I want to make people feel good.

"Having this surgery made me want to live life to the max and this show (her new show Stranded on Honeymoon Island) felt like quite an adventure. I love love and helping people find it."

Davina, 57, underwent surgery at the end of last year to have the tumour extracted.

She told Fearne Cotton's Happy Place festival that she compiled a checklist for her family before the procedure.

Reflecting on how she had to prepare herself mentally before the operation, she said: "I needed to get my brain in the right place where I could be calm before the operation.

"I had to make sure that my kids were going to be OK if I did not make it. That is all I really cared about. I knew my partner, Michael, would be OK as he is a whole person, but I was really worried about my kids."

Davina, mother to three children - Holly, Chester and Tilly - with her second husband Matthew Robertson, opened up about how she became "forensic" in considering the impact of her health on her children.

She stated: "I went into forensic thinking about my children and where they were at in their lives, what stage they were at. You are only happy as your unhappiest child."

After undergoing surgery last year, she updated her followers on Instagram, saying: "My short-term memory is a bit remiss but that's something I can work on. I'm writing down everything I'm doing to keep myself feeling safe."

Davina rose to fame in the 2000s as the host of reality TV show Big Brother during its peak years, presenting the show from 2000 to 2010.

In recent years, she has co-starred with Nicky Campbell in Long Lost Family, a programme dedicated to reuniting family members who have been separated for many years.

She met her current partner Michael Douglas when he was her hair stylist on Big Brother, but it took years for their relationship to turn romantic.

They became a couple after the TV presenter separated from her second husband. She and Michael moved in together in 2022.

Stranded on Honeymoon Island premieres tonight (Wednesday, September 3) at 9pm on BBC One. Davina also appears on Long Lost Family tonight at 9pm on ITV.