‘I can’t tell you how much it means’: Davina McCall on importance of men learning about menopause

Presenter says her partner educated himself so he could ‘understand her better’

Davina McCall has spoken about the importance of men learning and understanding what happens during the menopause as she continues to raise awareness about how it affects people’s lives.

The presenter and TV personality appeared on BBC’s The One Show to discuss her new book, Menopausing, which challenges some of the stigmas associated with menopause.

Common symptoms of menopause include anxiety, brain fog, poor concentration, hot flushes, fatigue and irregular and heavy bleeding.

When prompted by BBC presenter Jermaine Jenas on ways men can offer support to those going through menopause, McCall said the most important step is to take time to learn about how it affects women.

She said her own partner, hair stylist Michael Douglas, had made the effort to educate himself on how menopause changes hair. Some women notice that their hair thins or sheds more during menopause.

“We want men on board so badly. [My partner] is in the book, he’s talking about how best to deal with menopausal hair. He learnt a lot about it so he can help his clients and understand me better.

“I can’t tell you how much that means when the person you care about makes an effort to learn about something that is happening to you, so that they can sympathise with you and understand it.”

“I’ve had men come up to me in the street and say: ‘I thought I’d lose my wife, I thought she didn’t like me anymore, and I thought I was doing something wrong. And now I understand it, its brought us so much closer together’.”

Menopause can have wide-ranging consequences on women’s work and personal lives.

One 2019 survey, carried out by Bupa, estimated that almost 900,000 women in the UK have left their jobs over an undefined period of time because of symptoms associated with menopause.

McCall recalled experiencing brain fog while working on ITV’s dance show Stepping Out.

“The really bad time happened when I was trying to work with brain fog,” McCall told BBC viewers.

“I was on this show called Stepping Out and I was looking at Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and thinking, ‘I’ve just said your name three seconds ago and I can’t for the life of me remember what it is’.

“It was literally like a blank page,” McCall explained. “And I looked at the autocue and I couldn’t read it properly and afterwards the producer said, ‘Are you OK?’

“And I said ‘yeah, I’m fine I’m really sorry I don’t know what happened tonight but I’m OK’.

“And then she shut the door behind her. I just couldn’t stop crying. I was really hysterically crying because I just thought, ‘I am going mad’.”

McCall said she felt “so lonely” and that she had “nowhere to turn” and “no-one to talk to”.