Inside Davina McCall’s romance with Michael Douglas – meeting while married; support during split; relationship with his kids

She’s been with hairdresser Michael since 2017

Davina McCall is a UK television icon, from her decade hosting Big Brother to her presenting duties on ITV’s Long Lost Family and her role as a judge on The Masked Singer. But what do we know about her personal life with boyfriend Michael Douglas?

Hairdresser Michael, who has been with Davina, 57, since 2017, is set to appear on Katie Piper’s Weekend Escape on Sunday (June 1). And, although they don’t discuss their relationship often, they have dropped a couple of tidbits about their personal life…

Davina has been with Michael since 2017 (Credit: ITV)

Why Davina McCall and boyfriend Michael Douglas keep relationship private

Davina doesn’t often discuss her relationship with Michael. The presenter said previously that they have an agreement not to talk about it in public. She said: “We’ve got an agreement that I don’t talk about our relationship, because our exes and kids don’t have a right to reply, so it’s not fair. Privacy keeps our relationship special to us. There’s something lovely about it and that’s all it is. It keeps it really magical and I like that.

“I would never talk about how our relationship works, about arguments or even things like what we eat for breakfast and who drives the other crazy. I want to keep that for me,” she said. Davina added: “I will give you guys everything. But there are one or two things that I just want to keep to myself, and he’s one of them.”

Davina separated from her second husband, Pet Rescue presenter Matthew Robertson, in November 2017, the same year she began dating Michael. They went public with their relationship in May 2019, at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Davina gets her hair done by Michael in 2020 (Credit: Cover Images)

They’ve known each other for years

It’s thought that the couple have known each other for over 20 years, after Michael styled Davina’s hair for TV. It’s also thought that they worked on Big Brother together.

Davina told Fabulous magazine: “We just get on really well at work and we always have done – that’s never changed.”

Before they entered a relationship, Davina had called Michael one of her “favourite people” when sharing a link to a podcast he had appeared on.

Blended family and ‘devastating blow’

As a result of their long friendship, Michael had met Davina’s family and children before their relationship became a romantic one. Davina has two daughters, Holly and Tilly, and a son, Chester, with Matthew. Michael, meanwhile, has two sons with his ex-wife Tracey Douglas, previously friends with Davina, and Davina met them before they became a couple.

Friends told The Sun at the time that Tracey was “devastated” to learn that Michael and Davina began dating months after they ended their marriage. They said that she had no idea about the romance until it hit the papers.

They said: “Davina had met their children and was the last person Tracey ever thought Michael would end up with. The family had been there for Davina during her split with Matthew. And, Michael was very much a confidante to her.

“So Tracey knew all the ins and outs and was supportive. To find out they are dating, and that they’d been showing off their new relationship in public was an absolutely devastating blow for Tracey.”

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They live and make a podcast together

Since January 2020, Davina and Michal have hosted a podcast, Making The Cut, together. Davina has said about the podcast: “I love doing the podcast with him. It’s basically an extension of what we’ve always done as friends, which is recommend things to each other.”

Davina and Michael moved in together in 2022, after five years of dating. She said on their podcast in January 2023: “I am quite enjoying being a new couple doing new things, because we are newly living together. It’s quite nice making new traditions because we did that before Christmas. We sat down together and talked about it: ‘Okay, blank space, what shall we make tradition from now on?’”

She’s paid tribute to Michael when making speeches after winning awards, too. After she won the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards in 2024, and thanked her loved ones, she turned to him and said: “Thank you, I love being on this journey with you. You make me a better person and you make me so happy.”

After she won Inspiration of the Year at the Inspiration Awards in 2023, she told HELLO! that she regretted not thanking him in her speech then. She said: “I didn’t say thanks to Michael, who’s my partner, in my speech. I feel sad about that because he makes me a much better person and he makes me skip to work in the morning and I’m very lucky to have that so I just want to say thank you to him as well.”

Michael nursed Davina back to health after brain surgery (Credit: Splash News)

‘So angry with him’

Devoted Michael also nursed Davina after she underwent brain surgery – even if she was annoyed with him when he pushed her back into work!

Paying tribute to her beau, Davina said: “Michael said to me: ‘I know you; I know how much you love work and how much it means to you.’ He said: ‘I know you’re scared. But this is the final piece of the jigsaw. And I think it’s gonna make a big difference when you go back.’

“I was so angry with him. But when I went back, at the end of the day I sat in the car and was like: ‘Yes!’ It felt so good to see everybody and to be back to normal. It felt like something normal I could do that I love.”