AT 28, she was an alcoholic who was drinking herself to death.
But almost 20 years on, says: “It’s a gift that I hit rock bottom.”;;
Now the former actress is one of our most influential wellness gurus — dubbed the of Wigan.
In the Nineties, Davina was part of London’s infamous Primrose Hill set with , , and .
She says: “I was constantly hungover, riddled with anxiety, and alcohol didn’t work for me any more.
“Not even a glass of red wine would lift me.
“I flatlined. I was drinking to survive, but I wasn’t feeling good.
“I was shown these awful videos of myself drunk, and numerous times I was told by doctors, ‘one more drink will kill you’.
“But I kept drinking until eventually I just had to stop.
“Alcoholism doesn’t pick and choose. If it’s going to get you, it’s going to get you.”;;
But Davinia, now 47, turned to sugar for comfort and said she felt “fat, bloated, sluggish and mentally ill”;; throughout her thirties.
Nowadays she is a new woman, throwing all her energy into “biohacking”;; — achieving optimal physical and through and in a bid to reverse ageing.
and feels like a new woman.
Davinia says: “Recently I had my biological age tested and I had the markers of someone who is 20.
“I feel brilliant and the idea is to live to 100 — feeling fit and well.
Breath work
“I think that’s something we can all aspire to and is do-able. It’s not just about extending life, but about having a better quality of life, and me being able to pull on a pair of trainers aged 100 and go for a jog!”;;
Davinia laughs at the suggestion that she has swapped one addiction for another, saying: “I’m not addicted to wellness because I still have to, you know, drag myself out of the house on a rainy Tuesday in February to take the dogs for a 7k run.
“I have to force myself to do breath work or do a cold shower — it’s fricking awful. So that is not an addiction.
“Biohacking sounds really futuristic, but it’s not just about hacking into your personal biology and mental chemistry.
“It’s about living longer, feeling stronger and being more resilient.
“In my thirties I was fat, bloated, sluggish and mentally ill.
“My biological age was probably that of someone in their fifties.
“If I look at my genes, my great-grandmother died in her 80s, my grandmother died in her 70s, my mother died in her early 60s . . . what does that say for me?
“I mean, I’m nearly 50. So I’m like, ‘tick tock, tick tock’.
“I knew I needed to change something, something that obviously wasn’t working through our genetics.”;;
Recently I had my biological age tested and I had the markers of someone who is 20
-born Davinia first found fame as on Hollyoaks when she was a teenager.
She dated actor and ex- footballer , and went on to marry and have a son with ’s best friend They .
They divorced in 2010.
Davinia is a mum of four and has two boys with her partner of 15 years, Matthew Leyden, 45. They live together in Lancashire and are “incredibly happy”;;.
She certainly looks it, with glowing skin and an endless knowledge of nutrition and exercise.
Ask Davinia anything about health and she likely knows the answer.
Former addicts very often make the best wellness converts because “moderation”;; isn’t in their vocabulary.
She launched Willpowders, a range of health supplements in 2021, which soon sold out and — after devoting years to researching biohacking — her have become Sunday Times best-sellers.
Today she is chatting to me ahead of her latest release, Futureproof, in which she shares her experiences of lowering her biological age.
Davinia, who has more than a million followers on , says about 90 per cent of them are “female and menopausal”;;.
One is actress and fellow biohacking enthusiast . Davinia says they message each other from time to time.
But it is -winner Gwynnie who she is most often compared to.
While the founder posts from her £13million mansion, Davinia will often share selfies and stories from the middle of a muddy field with her two dogs, or sweating it out in the gym.
Some of Davinia’s top tips for biohacking are surprisingly simple: Sunlight first thing in the morning, long periods of fasting and cold showers.
She also advocates adding supplements, according to the individual’s needs, which can help to re-balance the body.
She is also big on “nootropics”;;, which are substances intended to improve cognitive function such as memory, concentration and attention.
Plus, she loves an infra-red sauna.
Davinia says: “We need to beat cancers, dementia and obesity, which are being driven by so many considerations we can control.
“Around 75 per cent of our foods are processed — as a population, we are addicted to them and they are killing us.
“Our brains are inflamed, and that is dangerous.”;;
Botox is great if you feel confident, but I’m just a bit wary because I worry about having injections that close to my brain
Davinia, who now eats a mainly “meat and two veg”;; diet, says: “Biohacking is about eating whole, natural foods, not being scared of things like butter or fats. We need fat to survive, we literally couldn’t live without it. It’s little hacks that all add up.”;;
The star has come a long way from those heady Britpop days.
Davinia is still friends with many of the Primrose Hill set via social media, but still tries to make time to see ex-wife, .
‘Irritating for everyone’
She says of her recent visit to Meg’s home in Cornwall: “It was very ‘well-being’ — we were doing morning breath work and everything, like utter wellness w*****s!
“Meg and I have always been extremists.
“So we’ve obviously gone completely the other way, which is completely irritating for everyone.
“We were really irritating drunk, we’re even more infuriating now.”;;
Full disclosure: I have been pals with Davinia for almost 20 years. We first met during a night out in Manchester, doing a pub crawl, and ended up getting absolutely s**t-faced together.
Although her lifestyle has drastically changed since then, her down-to-earth personality has not.
It is almost impossible not to like Davinia.
She is genuine, friendly and passionate about what she preaches.
So much so that Davinia even got told off recently during an appearance on for advocating magnesium baths and nootropics.
She says: “The producer was totally panicking — I mean, Jesus, it’s magnesium not meth . . .”;;
Unsurprisingly, Davinia is not a fan of the Love Island aesthetic and avoids products if they contain certain chemicals. She explains: “Just before I turned 40, I had a midlife crisis and did get some filler injected into my jaw and cheeks.
“Fast forward six years and it looked puffy and rounded.
“I didn’t realise that filler actually stops the flow of liquid throughout your whole lymphatic system. I had lumps over my face.
“Botox is great if you feel confident, but I’m just a bit wary because I worry about having injections that close to my brain.
“So, for now, I’m looking at other way to reduce wrinkles.”;;
- Futureproof: Build Resilience, Feel Younger, Live Longer, by Davinia Taylor, £16.99, is published by Orion Spring on Thursday.
