Davina McCall has opened up about her past drug use (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Davina McCall has opened up about her battle with addiction and said that drugs once filled a hole in her heart.
The TV presenter previously revealed on The Diary Of A CEO podcast that she used to smoke cannabis with her mother Florence aged 12.
Speaking about her upbringing and the influence of her mother, who was an alcoholic, Davina, 55, admitted that ‘there’s a lot of my mum in me.’
‘I don’t want to slag her off. She was my mum, warts and all. She wasn’t perfect. And she did make me, in so many ways, who I am.
‘She was party central, but also, I’m at pains to say, along with being quite a chaotic parent, she was really f***ing fun.’
Davina added to The Times ‘She was spontaneous. I’m not very good at that. I feel like I’m such a wild woman when I’m spontaneous because I’m a planner.
The TV presenter used to spoke cannabis with her mother, aged 12 (Picture: Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
‘I like to be organised, because my mum was very chaotic. So it makes me feel safe when I go, “Ok, next Christmas we’ll…”, And I do that in January.’
Admitting that she probably never needed drugs, Davina then said, putting her hand on her heart: ‘But actually, I had a hole here and drugs filled that.
‘And eventually I’ve kind of put sticky tape over each f***ing hole, and probably each therapy session I go to is like another bit of tape.
‘Now I feel like it’s healed but I am still vigilant. I don’t ever want to drink again, that’s for sure. I love not drinking.’
Davina, who used to present Big Brother, also recalled waking somebody up on the Tube to tell them to go to an AA meeting.
She said that she sat next to somebody who ended up with his head almost in her lap as he slept.
The former Big Brother host believes drugs filled a hole in her heart (Picture: Philip Toscano/Shutterstock)
Davina recently tried to help a stranger on the Tube get to an AA meeting (Picture: PA)
He had a can of Special Brew with him and Davina wondered when would be best to wake him up and tell him to go to a meeting.
‘I thought I’d wait until two stops before mine and then I’d wake him up. Everybody else was avoiding sitting there,’ she shared.
‘So at Holborn, I woke him up and went, “Mate, are you all right?”, “Yeah, yeah.” I was like, “I don’t think you are. I don’t drink alcohol, and I think maybe you should think about stopping”.’
She also told him: ‘They give you biscuits at AA. It’s really nice. You get biscuits and a cup of tea.’
Davina knew he wouldn’t remember what she had told him.
‘But it might be like a seed I’ve planted.’
Worried about drugs?
Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
Adfam has local groups for families affected by drugs and alcohol and DrugFam offers phone and email support to people affected by other people’s drug or alcohol misuse.
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The TV presenter used to smoke cannabis with her mother aged 12.