A fixture on our TV screens for more than 20 years, Davina McCall has also made an impressive 15 workout DVDs and created her own exercise platform, Own Your Goals. Since turning 50, she’s been busting myths and proving that age is no barrier (regularly sharing ‘shameless bikini selfies’, as she calls them, on her Instagram page). We caught up with our new guest editor and self-confessed ‘fitness lady’ to talk resolutions, role models and turning 50.
On role models
“There are lots of older women I really admire. Helen Mirren is one, and Gloria Hunniford is another. I saw Gloria the other day and she looks SO fabulous; her and her husband just looked so cool, and she’s so sharp. I don’t even want to say how old she is, it doesn’t matter, but she’s a shining beacon of where I’d like to be. Greg Whyte trained me, David Walliams and John Bishop – he’s my age and he is the fittest man I’ve ever seen, and I don’t mean fit as in ‘hot’, I mean literally fit. He’s trained hard and he’s so dedicated. I find him very inspiring. I always think that if he can do it, I can definitely do it – age is not a barrier. Sometimes I lie in bed thinking, like everyone else, I don’t want to get up because I’m too tired, and then I look on Instagram and I see a picture of someone who’s just done a run or a workout, and I think ‘I’m going to do mine’. Other people inspire me all the time.”
On resolutions for 2020
“I feel like I’ve given up enough because I don’t drink alcohol and I eat well, so I think there’s a point at which you can just be too good, so I reckon my resolution would be to start up something fun that I can do that’s a bit naughty, something that’s bad for me. People can be so hard on each other.”
On turning 50
“I had loads of preconceptions about turning 50 when I was younger, so I think that’s why I feel it’s my duty to have the best time ever and to show you that there is life after 50. I thought I was going to be in twinsets and pearls with a purple rinse and a perm, so I’m excited that life isn’t like that.”
To read the full interview, pick up the February issue of Health & Wellbeing magazine with Davina McCall, on sale on the 24th December.
