Davina McCall likens herself to a colander, but why?
Davina McCall has reflected on her struggles during her younger years.
Davina McCall has likened herself to "a colander" during her younger years.
The 58-year-old TV presenter was raised by her paternal grandparents after her parents separated and her French mum returned to France, and Davina has now reflected on the effect that it had on her younger self.
Davina - who developed a heroin addiction in her early 20s - told Nicky Campbell at the Edinburgh TV Festival: "I saw myself as being like a colander with lots of holes in it. Any love or security or confidence I had when I was little would fill up the colander for a little bit and then just trickle through. I couldn’t keep hold of anything.
"Then drugs filled the colander but then the drugs would run out and it would be empty again. But I feel like, over 35 years, I’ve sealed each individual hole on the colander."
Davina initially sought fame because she craved validation from her mum.
The TV star said: "I was like a performing seal for my mum, I was always trying to get her to be proud.
"I’d do everything for her approval but she couldn’t give it to me, she didn’t have the tools.
"And then I got on MTV Europe and said, ‘did you see it?’ and she was like, ‘Yes. Why do you pull those stupid faces all the time?’.
"But I was kind of grateful, because the drive got me there and I could let go of trying to impress my mum. Because while I’d been trying to impress my mum, I got my dream job.
"Maybe if I hadn’t had that need, I wouldn’t have pushed so hard. I always said when I was trying to get a job in TV that a ‘no’ was just a ‘yes’ that hadn’t happened yet."
Asked if her addictive personality had helped her in her TV career, Davina replied: "Lots of people ask me if I’m addicted to working out and fitness. But I work out three or four times a week for about half an hour to 45 minutes, so I don’t think that’s it. But I can also think of worse things to be addicted to."
