The highs and lows of Zoe Ball's career, from 'ladette' to middle England darling

BBC presenter Zoe Ball has announced that she volition beryllium stepping backmost from presenting Radio 2’s meal show. The 53-year-old told listeners this greeting that she had “decided it's clip to measurement distant from the aboriginal alarm telephone and commencement a caller chapter.” Ball has presented The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show each weekday greeting from 6.30am for the past six years. “I americium going to miss you cats," she told listeners, but admitted “I won’t miss the 4am alarm telephone if I’m wholly honest.” Ball said she would contiguous her past amusement adjacent period earlier chap Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills replaces her. "She's done an unthinkable occupation connected this amusement implicit the past six years, and I americium beyond excited to beryllium handed the baton," said Mills. 

Ball’s vocation astatine the BBC spans implicit 30 years and has had galore twists and turns. In the 90s she was labelled a “ladette” and a enactment girl, portion nowadays she prefers being “in furniture with immoderate crumpets and watching Gardeners' World by 10.” From being photographed connected chaotic nights retired and presenting a vigor amusement connected nary slumber portion “still high” successful Ibiza, Ball has go the highest-paid pistillate presenter astatine the BBC. Her idiosyncratic beingness has been marked by tragedy, though, and she says she volition beryllium leaving her amusement to “focus connected family”. 

In the mid nineties Ball presented assorted TV shows for the BBC, including the children’s creation amusement SMart connected CBBC, and Top of the Pops. In 1997 she joined the Radio 1 meal amusement and the pursuing twelvemonth became the archetypal pistillate to big the amusement solo. While Ball initially saw herself arsenic “shy, gawky and awkward,” her predilection for drunken nights retired and partying until the aboriginal hours earned her the rubric of “ladette” successful the press. 

Ladette is thought to person been coined by men’s mag FHM successful 1994 and describes a boisterous, dense drinking, life-and-soul enactment girl. Ball was often photographed stumbling retired of clubs and into taxis with chap presenter Sara Cox, who was besides labelled a ladette but says she “always hated” the term. "Ladette is simply a connection that makes my toes curl now," Cox told This Morning. Nevertheless, Radio 1’s producers were blessed for Ball to clasp the attention. “I started trying to unrecorded up to the label,” she told Grazia. “I loved it astatine first. Hanging retired with radical who partied each day, woke astatine 5pm, had a fewer shots of vodka and a container of chips, past went clubbing again.” 

Ball met her aboriginal hubby Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, successful 1998 portion hosting the BBC meal amusement successful Ibiza. Remembering their archetypal encounter, Ball said: “We bumped into Norman and helium said: ‘How would you similar to not spell to furniture with maine tonight?’, meaning let’s spell retired each night. So we went into each nine successful Ibiza and I did the Breakfast Show the adjacent greeting connected nary sleep. But what a night!”. The adjacent greeting she had to contiguous her vigor amusement connected nary sleep, portion inactive buzzing from the evening’s antics. “As the amusement finished and my precocious from the nighttime earlier started to fade, I looked astir astatine the Radio 1 radical and thought: ‘I mightiness get the sack,’” she said. 

Despite the information that she could “hardly speak,” Ball kept her occupation and continued to enactment hard and play hard alongside her caller hubby whom she joined successful 1999. However, BBC bosses became progressively acrophobic with her intelligence health. Recalling that period, Ball told a BBC 2 documentary: “I retrieve turning up 1 time looking astatine the timepiece and trying to accidental it’s 10 past 7 – and each the words came retired successful the incorrect order.” In March 2000 Ball shocked everyone by quitting the Radio 1 Breakfast show. "There is specified a happening arsenic excessively overmuch fun," she told fans. Later that twelvemonth the mates welcomed their archetypal child, Woody. 

Parenthood did not quell Ball and Cook’s sensation for the enactment scene. Their matrimony survived an matter Ball had with a little-known vigor DJ successful 2003, but Ball’s burning of the candle astatine some ends caught up with her aft she hosted a New Year’s Eve bash successful 2009, which near her location successful a “wreck”. 

“I sat sobbing, knowing if I didn’t halt I’d extremity up successful a intelligence home. I called a therapist I’d been seeing and asked for help,” she told Grazia. Both she and Cook sought nonrecreational assistance for alcoholism and got sober. That year, their 2nd child, Nelly, was born. Ball has described her girl arsenic “my acquisition of sobriety”. The mates had galore blessed years together, and Cook said that Ball kept him connected the consecutive and narrow. “She knew the fame crippled and we would benignant of cheque each other,” helium said connected the Changes podcast. “If I wasn't respectful to people, she'd go: ''Oi, travel on, that's not however we behave! Go backmost and convey them for that.''' The mates divided amicably successful 2016, successful which clip Ball struggled with sobriety.

That year, Ball went to rehab and has been sober ever since. She began a narration with Billy Yates, a BBC cameraman. Yates suffered from alcoholism and slump and tragically killed himself successful 2017. This led Ball to embark connected a 350-mile rhythm thrust for Sport Relief, raising implicit 1 cardinal pounds. Her prime to rhythm crossed the state was a poignant reminder of her past moments with Yates. “He got connected his motorcycle and helium cycled disconnected and helium turned circular and helium blew maine a buss goodbye, and that was the past clip I saw him,” she said connected the BBC documentary Zoe Ball’s Hardest Way Home successful 2018. “It was conscionable that infinitesimal and that feeling of ‘Oh my God I emotion him truthful much, we'll find immoderate assistance and it volition each beryllium okay.’ And I privation I'd told him that.”

In January 2019 Ball replaced Chris Evans arsenic the big of The Radio 2 Breakfast show. With an assemblage of astir 6.3 cardinal it is the astir listened to meal amusement successful the country. Ball was paid astir £950,000 successful 2023/24, making her the BBC’s 2nd highest paid presenter, down Gary Lineker. 

Ball's past amusement volition beryllium connected Friday 20 December, "just successful clip for Christmas with plentifulness of amusive and shenanigans," she told listeners connected her Tuesday show. "You cognize I deliberation the satellite of you all, listeners, and it genuinely has been specified a privilege to stock the mornings with you, to spell done life's small ups and downs, we got done the lockdown together, didn't we?” Ball was photographed hugging her successor Scott Mills extracurricular the BBC gathering this morning, and said she was “really chuffed for my mate”.