Zoe Ball discussed the challenges she faced in her early career, including the fact that she had to wear uncomfortable outfits and couldn’t refuse requests.
Zoe Ball has described how she felt when TV bosses allegedly asked her to wear “tiny” and “uncomfortable” clothes at the beginning of her career.
The broadcaster, 54, began her television career as a presenter on the pre-school programme Playdays, with her early jobs including Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast and BBC’s Live Kicking. She then went on to become the first female host of the Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows for the BBC – and last year, she was confirmed as the second-highest paid BBC presenter after Gary Lineker.
In November last year, months after her mum Julia passed away from cancer, she decided to step away from her long-running hosting duties to focus on her family. Zoe now enjoys a slower pace of life and co-hosts the BBC podcast Dig It with Jo Whiley.
READ MORE: Zoe Ball admits ‘there are so many different struggles’ in family life confession
Zoe claimed in an interview with The Sunday Times that it wasn’t an option at the beginning of her career to decline “uncomfortable” requests during photo shoots or while employed. She acknowledged that years later when she realized how much she had to endure, including having to dress in certain outfits and being unable to decline certain requests.
You look back and think, goodness me, only a few years later, Zoe said. When I read some of the things she went through, I realized Sophie Ellis-Bextor [she] and I were actually able to see what she could see of women in the media.
She continued, “I can recall going to a shoot where people would say, “Straddle a chair.” It felt quite uncomfortable because there would be these small clothing racks, but I had to do it. You are preconditioned to believe that’s how it is when someone says, “I don’t think she wants to do it,” but there was no such thing. However, I’m thinking about my daughter right now because I would be like, “I would be like, “if someone asked her to do that or said something about her.
She acknowledged that she recently discovered some photos from a photo shoot that she loved, and that it wasn’t all negative. She continued, “I recently discovered some photos that Bob Carlos Clarke, who designed the Pirelli calendar, had taken of me. I’m wearing a lace-up catsuit and boots, and I thought, oh my God! They excelled.
It comes as Zoe opened up on suffering “mum guilt” as she laid bare the difficulties of trying to raise a family while juggling a busy and successful career. During an episode of her Dig It podcast with Jo Whiley, one listener had written in to share how she had been suffering from “mum guilt” and Zoe said she felt something similar after having her first child.
Zoe met DJ Norman Quentin Cook, known professionally as Fatboy Slim, back in 1998 when the broadcaster was on a BBC Radio 1 trip to Ibiza. They got marred in Somerset the following year – and one year later, Zoe gave birth to their first child together, Woody.
The star had already starred on The Big Breakfast and Top of the Pops by then while her then-husband was busy DJing around the world. Zoe explained how they often relied on the help of “amazing women” to look after their children, including daughter Nelly who was born in 2010. She said: “I had a lot of guilt because there was always amazing women who helped with my kids whilst I was working, and their dad toured and was away a lot.”
The radio and television personality added that as she began to worry that her children were spending “too much time” with people other than their parents, the “guilt” began to manifest. She described the difficulties as “there are so many different struggles and I get there’s dad guilt,” but “most families, you know, someone has to work.” After 17 years, Zoe and Norman divorced, but she said they were still in good terms in 2020.
