Why Davina Mccall couldn’t save her 17-year marriage
She’d known for a while that things hadn’t been working…
‘She didn’t want to feel like the bad person’
Oh dear – we thought Davina Mccall’s marriage to Matthew Robertson was as solid as a band of gold, but last week the pair called time on their 17-year union. Shocks all round.
So, why couldn’t the couple, who renewed their wedding vows in April 2015, make it work? Apparently, a large part of their problems were down to Matthew’s unhappiness about Davina’s commitment to her career. “He sometimes felt that if Davina put as much time and energy into their relationship as she did her work, they would have the world’s best marriage,” an insider close to the couple tells heat. In 2017 alone, Davina presented The Jump on Channel 4, The
Davina Hour on W, and is the face of cosmetic brand Garnier Nutrisse. Her latest fitness DVD will be released on 26 December, and she’s written four cook books in the last two years.
Matt, meanwhile, presented
Pet Rescue from 1997 to 2003, but left the world of TV to concentrate on his adventure travel company.
Although the split was only announced last week, our source says that the marriage had been on the rocks for two years, with Matt, 49, feeling insecure about not being the main breadwinner, and joking he had to “make an appointment to get time with my wife”, and telling friends, “Her yoga mat sees more action than me.”
And the warning signs had been there for a while, with Davina posting sad Instagram messages such as, “When I say ‘I’m fine’ I actually mean ‘just hug me’.”
The presenter has spoken openly in the past about going to counselling, but it’s claimed that Davina, 50, knew for a while that her marriage couldn’t be saved. “She said that the point where you start trying to save things is the point where you know you’ve already lost it,” our insider tells us. “She says, ‘You shouldn’t have to fix yourself or feel like the bad person.’”
Now, as the festive season approaches, we’re told the estranged couple will spend Christmas with their children, Holly, 16, Tilly, 14, and 11-year-old Chester, but it will be probably their last as a family unit. “Every morning, we get a chance to be different. A chance to change. A chance to be better,” Davina posted to Instagram the day before the split was announced. She also commented underneath, “I really know about this one. I have made so many mistakes in my life. But there is always a new day.” Pass the tissues.