My sister died of cancer... I used to worry about the disease but now I’m just trying to stay as fit as I can
died in 2008, the presenter did not attend her funeral.
She has come under fire on social media from people accusing her of being too thin and a bad role model for sharing bikini snaps.
Negative comments on one of her posts had Davina firing back with another image alongside the caption: “It is the beginning of the summer. And this is a bikini selfie.
“And it probably won’t be the last.”
Davina adds: “I am well known, I post stuff and people are going to look at it.
“In the end you just think ‘There is no point talking about it any more because whatever you say somebody’s going to have an opinion on it’.
“As long as I feel good in myself about decisions that I’ve made, or the way that I feel or look, that’s the most important thing. And I’m healthy.” Davina’s resilience was strengthened thanks to advice from a friend, who is no stranger to a social media storm.
She explains: “Piers Morgan told me that when you’re famous you sort of almost give up the right to complain about stuff because that’s what comes with being in the public eye.
“So I roll with it as much as I can. It washes over me.”
Davina, who ran the 5km Cancer Research event as a Ryvita ambassador, believes working out helps with “anything in life”.
She says: “The effects of exercise on mental health are extraordinary.
“It definitely helped me after babies, I didn’t have post-natal depression but I had an argument which gives a confidence boost. If I with my body. haven’t trained for a week – say I’ve
“They say nine months up, nine been busy at work – and I get to the months down when you have a baby, weekend, I think ‘I really don’t want to but I was more like nine months up, do it. I can’t be bothered’. two years down. I really struggled “But if I don’t do it, I will have a bit losing the weight and would get angry. of a cloud over my head all day. And
“But when I started training I learnt within 30 seconds of getting out of the to love myself a bit more.” house, I think ‘I feel
amazing’.” he has stayed at the top of her Critics claim Davina has game in the two decades since replaced her old, harmful her first big telly role as match- addictions with a new maker on Channel 4’s dating addiction to exercise but show Streetmate in 1998. she laughs this off.
Her presenting style has matured She says: “People often during her 10-year stint at the helm of ask ‘Are you addicted to Big Brother and now she is the exercise?’ Chance would empathetic host of ITV hit shows be a fine thing. This Time Next Year and Long Lost “I have got a very busy Family. job and three children so I
Again she credits exercise for can’t be addicted to exercise. keeping her immune from the pres- “But if you are going to enjoy something, sure to look good on screen. it may as well be something
“Weirdly, I exercise because that’s good for you.” makes me feel so good,” she says. Davina is aware of the dangers of
“I like the way I look in a picture on becoming obsessed with body the red carpet – I feel proud of myself, weight and image. And while Holly
Sit joins her in exercise classes, she has banned scales in her house so her daughters do not obsess about their weight.
There is one chink in Davina’s fullbody confidence: wrinkles.
She admits she is “so paranoid about ageing” and wears sunscreen in winter to keep her skin smooth.
But she believes she can counter-balance any physical signs of getting older with her intense fitness regime.
She adds: “I definitely feel really physically fit.
“Any wrinkle I might get around my eyes is kind of offset by my awesome sixpack.
“And if I smile, nobody really notices the wrinkles around my eyes – so I just keep smiling.”
Hopefully, Davina will have plenty more to smile about in her personal life soon.
If I smile, nobody notices the wrinkles... so I keep smiling