British TV presenter Davina McCall said memory loss after surgery to remove a benign brain tumor felt like "advanced Alzheimer's," the BBC and the Evening Standard reported.

McCall, 58, spoke on Paloma Faith's podcast, "Mad, Sad and Bad," the BBC reported. She had surgery in November 2024 after doctors found a rare benign tumor called a colloid cyst during a health check, the BBC reported.

"After I'd had my brain tumour taken out, I had advanced Alzheimer's, so I couldn't remember anything," the former "Big Brother" host told Faith, the BBC reported. "When I came out of the operation, I didn't know I'd had an operation."

A staff member asked McCall every day whether she could remember their name, the BBC reported. "And I'd go, 'I don't know'," she said.

"Michael would come and visit for two hours, and he'd go to the loo and come back, and I'd go: 'Oh my God, you're here,' and I didn't know he'd been there," McCall said of her husband, the Evening Standard reported.

She said she could not watch a movie for six months because she could not remember what had happened 15 minutes before, the BBC reported. She also could not remember the page before when reading a book.

McCall said singing, which she called "mind physio," helped her memory improve, the Evening Standard reported. "Music healed me and last October was the first time I woke up and went, 'Oh my God, I remember what I did yesterday,'" she said.

The BBC noted that after brain surgery, memory problems tend to be worst early on, then stabilize and improve over weeks to months. Music therapy can help people recover from brain injuries, the BBC said.

In April last year, McCall said scans showed the tumor was not coming back, both outlets reported. She was later diagnosed with breast cancer and had a lumpectomy in November, the Evening Standard reported.

What we know: McCall said she had severe short-term memory loss after her 2024 surgery and that singing helped her recover.
What we don't: Whether she has any lasting effects from the surgery.