Davina McCall bravely reveals how she prepared for death ahead of benign tumour operation

Davina McCall has revealed she made preparations in case she didn’t survive her recent brain tumour surgery.

The TV presenter and Masked Singer judge, 57, underwent a successful operation to remove a 14mm-wide benign tumour, a colloid cyst, from her brain last November.

McCall made her first public appearance post-surgery a month later and delivered a moving speech, in which she paid tribute to her late sister and ex father-in-law who both died of a brain tumour.

Speaking on her podcast Begin Again, McCall revealed her cyst could have caused her sudden death, which she prepared for by altering her will to include letters to her three children; Holly, 23, Tilly, 21, and Chester, 18.

McCall admitted she spoke to her partner Michael Douglas “quite quickly” about the possibility of the procedure resulting in her death.

Doctors had warned the Masked Singer judge that risks of undergoing the operation included stroke, epilepsy, and “nicking an artery or a blood vessel in the brain and having a bleed”.

However, the 57-year-old TV star opted to go ahead with the surgery regardless. “I was thinking, you know, "Would you rather have brain surgery now, or if it grew in eight years' time, would you want to have it in your mid-to-late sixties? Would it not be better to get it done now while you're fit and healthy in every other way?” she said.

“I did go and address my will and make sure that was airtight,” she added. “I talked to Michael about my wishes. I wrote letters of wishes to all of the children, and put those in my will.”

McCall revealed she felt so safe in the hands of her surgeon that she “let go of the outcome” and went to sleep before her operation.

“I really went to sleep and thought, ‘Everything will be okay, whatever happens,’” she said. “It felt like I’d climbed a mountain, but it was a good mountain to climb, you know? I really meant it.”

When asked if she worried for her children, McCall explained: “My final thought about it was that they’re surrounded by love and family…I just thought, ‘You guys…it will be devastating, but you will all be okay.’”

The TV presenter admitted her tumour made her feel “angry” because it had “taken control” of her. “I have had so many people say to me, ‘Well, at least it was benign’. And you think, ‘You have no idea that benign brain tumors can still kill you.’ It’s just you don’t know when it’s going to happen,” she said.

“It could happen tomorrow, it could happen in years' time. It's different to cancer, but it is also awful. A benign does not mean fine. Living with that uncertainty is pretty terrifying.”

According to the NHS, non-cancerous brain tumours are more common in people over the age of 50, and symptoms include headaches, blackouts, behavioural changes and loss of consciousness.

In a previous statement, McCall said the benign brain tumour was discovered after she was offered a courtesy health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work.

“I slightly put my head in the sand for a while, and then I saw quite a few neurosurgeons,” she said. I got lots of opinions, and I realised that I have to get it taken out.”