Davina McCall has opened up about his struggles with drug addiction in his twenties.

The 57-year-old, who recently revealed that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumorwent through one addicted to heroin when she was younger.

Speaking about her experience participating in Narcotics Anonymous, a group for people struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, she revealed the one thing she found most difficult about recovery.

“My biggest problem was that I had to say that I was an addict, and I had never said it out loud before,” she said in an interview with writer Johann Hari on her Start over podcast.

“I thought that once I say I’m an addict, I can’t go back and use easily again.”

The TV personality said she was 24 years old when she sought help and joined the group.

“So saying it out loud meant I was admitting it to other people but even worse I was admitting it to myself, and once I’ve admitted it to myself, then it makes it quite difficult,” she continued.

“It’s going to ruin my use forever. Like, I’m never going to enjoy it again. I didn’t enjoy it that much anyway, that’s why I was in that meeting. The whole meeting I was obsessed with saying that , (thought) ‘Oh my God, if I have to talk, I have to say it’.”

Although McCall was terrified of having to admit her addiction out loud, she explained the moment she did, and the subsequent release that followed.

“Then they say ‘Now’s the time for newcomers to say whatever’ and everyone just looks at me and I’m like ‘Oh no’, I say ‘My name is Davina…’ and it’s like spewing the words out, ‘ …and I’m an addict’ and then I just cried for two minutes,” she said as she went on to describe the sense of community she felt in the group.

“People rubbed my back. I really identified with that feeling of being in a group of like-minded people suffering from the same kind of problem but supporting each other with the knowledge of exactly what that person is going through.”

McCall has previously said that her ex-partner and musician Eric Clapton helped her get help, and revealed that she first did cocaine at the age of 15 with her mother.

If you have been affected by this article, please contact the following organizations for support: actiononaddiction.org.uk, mind.org.uk, nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth, mentalhealth.org.uk.