Davina McCall says Sarah Harding 'gave herself a hard time' for cancer diagnosis

A devastated Davina McCall has opened up about Sarah Harding’s heartbreaking death, saying the singer ‘gave herself a hard time’.

The TV presenter, 53, was a long-time friend of the late Girls Aloud star, who died of breast cancer last month, aged 39.

They first met in 2002 when Davina hosted Popstars: The Rivals, the singing competition that brought Girls Aloud together.

The former Big Brother host has now said Harding gave herself a hard time for the delay in her cancer being diagnosed.

In her book Hear Me Out, which was published before her death, Harding shared that she kept putting off seeing a doctor about her health concerns due to the pandemic and her fear of what might happen.

The singer said she was ‘in denial’ about her symptoms.

Davina, who sadly lost her sister to breast cancer in 2012, said she doesn’t want other people to be hard on themselves as Harding was.

She told The Sun: ‘She’d given herself a hard time for not going to sort it out earlier. That, for me, is always the hardest thing.

‘My sister was given a terminal diagnosis in hospital and gave herself a hard time for not doing something about it.

‘There’s nothing like the look on someone’s face when they realise that what they’re being told is there’s no treatment. This is palliative care from now on.’

She added that we ‘need to help people to find ways of detecting changes in their bodies’ because the idea of ever blaming yourself is ‘too much to handle.’

Davina stressed that we should ‘never, ever, ever, ever’ shame anybody.

‘If you get sick, it’s not your fault.’

Davina last worked with Harding on winter sports reality series The Jump back in 2016.

Harding had said she initially thought her problems were a result of her playing guitar too much, causing a breast cyst.

Her mum confirmed her death in a heartbreaking Instagram post following her diagnosis in early 2020.

In summer she received the devastating news that the cancer had advanced to other parts of her body, and started undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions.

She did her best to stay positive throughout her illness and kept fans updated with her condition.

Fans have since set up a Just Giving page in her memory and to raise money for breast cancer research.

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