'I hated myself when I got clean...' Davina McCall makes heartbreaking admission about when she got sober from drugs
Davina McCall got clean from drugs when she was aged 25, but the TV presenter admitted she "hated" herself afterwards.
Davina McCall "hated" herself when she got clean from drugs.
The 57-year-old TV presenter revealed in 2023 that she smoked cannabis aged 12, took cocaine when she was 14 and 15 years old, and then went on to become addicted to Class A drug heroin - which Davina admitted in 2021 that she loved "more than my family, more than myself".
After she overdosed at the peak of her crippling addiction, Davina recalled in 2020 that she "woke up in hospital" at her "lowest point" in life, and realised her drug habit was "a case of get clean, or die".
The star came to terms with her addiction after she revealed in 2016 that a friend told her that "everyone is talking about you and what a mess you are", and she got clean aged 25, within a year of attending Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings.
But despite having turned to a much healthier lifestyle, Davina could to get rid of the impact her drug habit left on her loved ones.
She told the new issue of Best magazine: "I hated myself when I got clean.
"I had let myself and other people down. I had been infected with this dark shadow."
The ex-Million Pound Drop game show presenter said it took "six months" for her to love herself.
Davina explained: "My sponsor gave me a mirror and told me to look at it every morning and say, 'I love you.'
"She said I could start with 'like' if love was too strong. I said, 'I like you,' but I could not stop crying as it was not true.
"It took me six months before I could say, 'I love you,' but I realised you can love yourself, warts and all.
"I did not have to be perfect."
Davina's "drug of choice" is now being with her loved ones.
The former Big Brother host - who has daughters Holly, 23, and Tilly, 21, and son Chester, 18, with her ex-husband, TV host Matthew Robertson, 56 - said: "My happy place is now with people I love... probably in a karaoke bar or Ibiza... with music and dancing.
"We were listening to Florence and the Machine the other day and that song Free. That's for me, with people you love, that is my drug of choice."
Davina - who has been in a relationship with celebrity hairdresser Michael Douglas, 50, since 2019 - does not care what people think of her.
She explained: "The older I have got, the less that bothers me. People used to level at me that I was annoyingly enthusiastic.
"It is like Marmite, some love it and some hate it, but that is okay. People can turn me off."
