The Diary of a CEODavina McCall: How To Overcome ANY Trauma & Live The Life You Deserve | E210
CHAPTERS
- 9:00 – 28:30
Abandonment, Two Childhood Worlds and Learning to Read People
Davina recalls the defining moment of realising her mother wasn’t coming back, being left with her grandmother, and growing up across two starkly different worlds: safe, modest England and chaotic, glamorous, drug‑fuelled Paris. She explains how this created a lifelong fear of abandonment, extreme people‑reading skills and a ‘half‑nun, half‑wild‑child’ identity.
- 28:30 – 40:30
Teenage Wildness, People‑Pleasing and the Seeds of Addiction
As a teen, Davina escapes to London nightlife, partying hard and using drugs with little thought for the future. She links her show‑off persona and hunger for attention directly to her abandonment trauma, describing how drugs temporarily mimicked the maternal warmth she’d missed.
- 40:30 – 57:00
From Waitressing to MTV: Relentless Asking and a Double Life with Drugs
Davina charts her early work life—waitressing, retail and then booking male models at a top agency—while still heavily using drugs. Through club promotion and sheer persistence, she manoeuvres herself into an audition at MTV, contrasting her car‑crash using years with the moment she finally arrives six months clean.
- 57:00 – 1:12:30
Rock Bottom, NA and Rebuilding a Life
Davina describes her descent into heroin and cocaine addiction, the intervention by a friend, and the moment she chooses to ask for help. Daily NA meetings, the 12‑step programme and immersion in a community of honest addicts teach her how to live differently and indirectly unlock her career at MTV.
- 1:12:30 – 1:27:00
Healing the Abandonment Wound and Rethinking Fame
Already sober, Davina undergoes hypnotherapy for a work fear and unexpectedly heals her core abandonment trauma. She then confronts the emptiness of fame: achieving her dream MTV show does not ‘fix the hole’ or win her mother’s love, pushing her to source validation internally instead.
- 1:27:00 – 1:42:00
Happiness at 55, Persistence, Manifestation and Career Evolution
Davina reflects on feeling genuinely content and grounded in midlife—something her younger self never imagined. She explains how she keeps her career alive by constantly ‘walking forward’: pitching ideas, being willing to be a ‘mosquito’ and accepting that some paths aren’t meant to happen while others, like Long Lost Family, arrive unexpectedly.
- 1:42:00 – 2:09:00
Losing Caroline: Love, Care, Bucket Lists and Living Now
Davina recounts discovering her sister Caroline’s advanced lung and brain cancer, caring for her through hospital and home, and being with her as she died. The experience is excruciating but also brings unprecedented intimacy between them and teaches Davina urgent lessons about presence, boundaries and not deferring life or love.
- 2:09:00 – 2:26:00
Grief, Feeling Like an Island and Attachment in Relationships
Discussing grief, Davina explores the sensation of being an emotional ‘island’ after losing her mother, father and sister. In conversation with Steven about attachment styles, she reflects on how healing her abandonment fear allowed her to become more securely attached and build stable adult relationships.
- 2:26:00 – 2:52:00
Menopause, Misconceptions, HRT and How Partners Can Really Help
Davina explains why she risked her career to speak openly about menopause and co‑write ‘Menopausing’. She runs through common symptoms, the range of severity, her own near‑career‑ending brain fog, and why educated partners—especially men—are critical allies. She offers specific, non‑patronising ways men can approach the topic.
- 2:52:00 – 3:13:00
Purpose, Self‑Care, Legacy and the Power of Platform
Turning to purpose, Davina says she’s no longer chasing followers or money but focusing on how to help people with her platform. She talks about lingerie as self‑respecting armour, imagines a TV show called ‘Legacy’ giving the dying a living wake, and connects this to her sister’s funeral and her wish that people feel loved before they go.
- 3:13:00 – 3:40:00
Her Mother, Forgiveness, Boundaries and Relief After Death
Davina revisits her complex relationship with her mother: confronting her alcoholism, briefly reconnecting when she got sober, then feeling utterly betrayed when her mother sold a recovery story to the press. She ultimately chooses distance, continues quietly paying for her mother’s medication, and practices a personal ritual of forgiveness when she learns she is dying.
- 3:40:00
Cancel Culture, Fear of Speaking and the Cost to Progress
In response to a closing question, Davina names cancel culture as what angers her most about society. She recounts being piled‑on for a tweet about the Sarah Everard case and reflects on how online shaming discourages learning, apology and honest debate—ironically undermining the very progress many campaigners say they want.
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