Davina McCall broke down in tears during a recent podcast appearance as she opened up about "the saddest thing" she has ever experienced. The 58-year-old has faced challenges with her health in recent years, including a brain tumour and breast cancer. However, she revealed that the most heartbreaking experience of her life has been the loss of her sister.
Emotional podcast moment
Davina's sister, Caroline Baday, died in 2012 aged 50 after lung cancer metastasised to her brain and bones. Speaking to Paloma Faith on her Mad Sad Bad podcast, the presenter struggled to contain her emotions as she recalled spending Caroline's final days with her.
She shared: "What was sad in a way was she didn't trust anybody, like my mum had damaged her so much, she never really had a relationship and she never had any children."
"But I was like her kid and I remember she was in her chair, I bought her one of those recliner chairs where the feet come up and everything, I was sleeping with my head on the arm of her chair and I remember waking up...," she continued to explain, before becoming overwhelmed with emotion.
Davina then whispered "sorry" before breaking down in tears, prompting Paloma to move beside her to offer comfort. After the pair embraced a hug in silence, Davina apologised again for becoming emotional as she wiped away her tears.
Final moments and funeral
Gathering herself, she continued recounting the memory, adding: "I woke up and she was like [stroking Paloma's hair] because she knew, you know, like I was still a little girl to her."
"So she looked after me. That was... she didn't need to speak, she showed me [how she felt]."
Davina also reflected on the emotions she experienced at Caroline's funeral, recalling how deeply her sister's death had affected those around her.
"She left a huge hole in everyone's life," she shared. "At her funeral, I was thinking we must do live-in funerals for people because at her funeral, I was like, 'You'd have f*****g loved this, this is amazing, look how many people [are here], look at the difference you've made to all these peoples lives'."
Health struggles
During the same podcast appearance, Davina also opened up about her recent health struggles, including her recovery from brain surgery to remove a rare benign tumour.
Describing 2025 as her "hardest year", she recalled experiencing severe memory problems following the operation, with symptoms likened to advanced Alzheimer's.
"When I came out of the operation, I didn't know I'd had an operation. The staff came in every day, and they'd go, 'What's my name?' and I'd go, 'I don't know'."
"Michael [her husband] would come and visit for two hours, and he'd go to the loo and come back, and I'd go, 'Oh my God, you're here,' and I didn't know he'd been there," she recalled.
"I couldn't watch a movie for six months because I couldn't remember what had happened in the movie 15 minutes before. A book I couldn't remember the page before."
Davina went on to explain that her memory eventually began to improve in the weeks that followed, with music helping her on the road to recovery.
