Zoe Ball’s insight into her family life comes after her dad Johnny Ball made a revelation about her relationship with her ex-husband Fatboy Slim
Zoe Ball has opened up about a “sad” shift in the bond with her daughter Nelly. The 54-year-old is mum to 24-year-old son Woody Cook, and Nelly, 14, with her former husband Norman Cook, who is better known as Fatboy Slim.
Speaking about sleeping arrangements on her latest Dig It podcast episode with Jo Whiley, Zoe expressed disappointment over her daughter’s reluctance to share overnight stays with her.
The BBC Radio 2 host revealed: “I love going to sleep in the same bed as Nel. When she’s here, I’m like, ‘Do you want to stay the night? It’s a girl’s night – wanna stay the night?’
“And it’s really sad when she just looks at me and is like, ‘No mother’ and shuts the door. Or looks at me and says, ‘No mother, go to bed now’.
“And my favourite thing [is], if you do get to share a bed with your kids, sometimes, I know it sounds creepy, but just looking at their faces as they sleep, it doesn’t matter how old they are, you look at them and I always have those moments of just remembering their faces when they were babies and it’s like, ‘Look at you, all grown up’.”
Zoe frequently offers followers glimpses into her home life through her Instagram account, which features snaps of her children, her well-known father Johnny Ball, and her late mum Julia.
However, one thing she prefers to keep private from fans is details about her love life.
In photographs shared by The Sun in June, the broadcaster was spotted clasping hands with an unknown gentleman at Glastonbury Festival.
A source revealed to the publication: “Zoe is down at Glastonbury as a punter and has brought her new boyfriend along for the ride.
“They seemed blissfully happy and were strolling along holding hands.
“She was really smiling at him as they walked along and he was very protective of Zoe and put his hand across her back.
“People were doing double takes at her bloke though because he looks a lot like Fatboy. It’s so great to see Zoe smiling again.”
Zoe was married to Fatboy Slim from 1999 to 2016, and according to her father Johnny, they’re now closer than ever before.
Chatting to Boom Radio, he revealed: “They’re very good friends today. They’re divorced, but they’re better… if you like, they’re closer today than they were when they were married. And that’s a lovely thing.”
After their divorce, Zoe began dating Billy Yates, who tragically took his own life at the age of 40 in 2017.
