Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 return date is thrown into doubt

Zoe Ball’s son Woody Cook has revealed he’s ‘glad to see her smiling’ after she was photographed being comforted by ex-husband Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, outside a café in Hove on Thursday.

The DJ, who is the BBC’s highest paid female star earning £950,000-a-year, has been on extended leave from her show since August 8, with Gaby Roslin and Scott Mills filling in. 

As concern has grown around her unexplained absence – Woody, 23, who Zoe shares with Fatboy Slim – has broken his silence on his absence. 

He exclusively told MailOnline: ‘My mum and I like to keep our private lives to ourselves but I will say I have stepped up and spent a lot more time with her recently as she has always been there when I’ve had tough times. I’m glad to see her smiling.’

BBC bosses have been supporting Zoe through her ‘tough’ time and her Radio 2 return date has been thrown into doubt after she was told to ‘take all the time she needs’ following the death of her beloved mother. 

Sources close to the star told MailOnline she has been given ‘as much time as she needs’ by the BBC, who acted similarly when she took time off in March to care for her ill mother Julia Peckham who passed away from cancer a month later.

As Zoe was spotted for the first time in weeks, BBC bosses are said to be doing ‘everything they can’ to help her return to work when she is ready.

A source told MailOnline: ‘Zoe’s had a tough few months. She had the death of her mum in April to deal with and it’s not been an easy time for her.

‘She has taken the time off because she needed a break with everything that has been going on for her. Her bosses are being very supportive and just want her to be in a place where she is ready to return to work.

‘Zoe is expected to come back before the end of the month. Nobody is telling her an exact date to come back, the decision is very much on her.

‘She’s been told to take all the time she needs.’

Before her leave of absence, Zoe had been on holiday in Ibiza and attended Brighton Pride.

But just three days back into her job, the former Live & Kicking presenter took another extended break.

A schedule tweak suggested Zoe would return as soon as this Monday, with stand-in Scott moving back to his afternoon slot but Radio 2 insiders say ‘nothing is set in stone’.

The insider added: ‘Nothing has been confirmed. Radio 2 is being led by Zoe on this. They’re just expecting her to return sometime this month.’

Yet she looked in good spirits on Thursday as she joined friends and her ex-husband in Hove. 

Zoe continues to have a close relationship with Norman, 61, the father of her two children Woody, 23, and Nelly, 14.

The former couple were married for 18 years and were known for their notorious partying in the Noughties before splitting in 2016.

Both Zoe and Norman are now teetotal having admitted issues with alcohol and both had stints in rehab.

Zoe took over from Chris Evans as the host of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in January 2019, becoming the first woman to front the station’s flagship show.

She quit her role on Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Take Two in May 2021 to concentrate on her radio duties, having become a hit with fans.

But regularly listeners were shocked to hear Radio 2 colleague Scott Mills’ voice on August 12, when he filled in for Zoe unannounced.

Scott said: ‘If you set your alarm this morning to go off at 6:30am and normally Zoe comes in, please do not break out. You have not overslept

‘If you’ve just put us on this morning, it’s Scott Mills in for Zoe for the next few weeks.

‘I’m sending you all my love Zo, as are my team.’

Fans have become concerned by the silence regarding the presenter’s absence, as well as Zoe’s lack of interaction on social media where she has been usually quiet.

Her last post on Instagram was on August 8, highlighting an interview clip from ex Radio 1 Breakfast DJs Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley, best known as Mark and Lard, who revealed they wanted Zoe to be their own ‘showbiz reporter’ while they were fronting the show back in the Nineties.

Three days previously, she posted a snap of herself with children Woody and Nelly, claiming they were tired from their partying in Ibiza and Brighton Pride.

And before her summer break, she lauded her personal trainer who she revealed has been working out with her twice a week over the last year and ‘hugely helped with my strength, menopause symptoms, anxiety and helped boost my confidence.’

Neither Radio 2 or Zoe personal reps have offered any confirmed insight into her absence from the show, sparking even more worry from listeners.

Zoe’s son Woody – an aspiring DJ like his father – has not mentioned his mother in any of his many social media posts over the past few months.

However Woody did reveal back in July he and Zoe, who have appeared together on Channel 4 show Celebrity Gogglebox, were in talks with various TV production companies about hosting a new show together.

He told The Sun: ‘Me and my mum keep being pitched for really cool stuff. The industry is so hard, but we’ll get there. I’m excited for whatever we end up landing on.’

But whereas some fans have shown their support for Zoe while she’s been off the airwaves – some of whom have been personally contacted Radio 2 – others haven’t been quite so sympathetic.

Many have voiced their frustration on X that Zoe’s absence, and lack of intel from bosses, is unfair on licence fee payers.

One wrote: ‘Is this a BBC scandal, complete misuse of licence payers’ funds.

‘Zoe Ball gets to pick and choose her contract terms and conditions.

‘She’s never at work, more holidays than you can imagine. Are we mugs paying for this? No comment.’

Another added: ‘Why are the BBC still paying Zoe Ball when she is still off air, just get rid of her for someone who does want to work early morning shift.’

As well as taking time off this summer and for her look after her ill mother in March, Zoe also spent three weeks away from the station last year to host Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream for rivals ITV.

The series, set in Corfu, won’t be returning for a second season.

Zoe has been grieving the death of her beloved mother in recent months and in August said that coping with her grief was ‘harder than I could ever have imagined’. 

In an Instagram post to mark her mother’s birthday following her passing, Zoe shared: ‘Happy heavenly birthday Mama. Your beautiful beaming smile shining down on our hearts always but boy, losing you is harder than I could ever have imagined. Holding on so tight, letting the tears come & wishing on the stars.’  

The radio star announced in early March that her mother had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was being ‘incredibly brave’.

But in April delivered the devastating news that she had tragically passed away. 

She wrote at the time: ‘Sleep tight dear Mama. thank you for teaching us how to love unconditionally, to always show courage and empathy, and how, even in the darkest of days, laughter is the greatest of gifts. 

‘We are bereft without you but will hold so tight to each other. your grace & your smile that lit up every room you were in, will light the stars to guide us.’ 

Woody also shared a tribute on Instagram.

He wrote alongside a picture with his grandmother: ‘Today I say goodbye to Granny J, thank you for being a wonderful woman.

‘The only person who always sent me a valentines card. I know you’re with Rick now, give him a hug from me.

‘I know he said once when you were panicking in a helicopter over the Jungle ‘If you get lost, follow the river!’ You’ll find him at the end.’ 

Zoe has been beset by hardship over the last few years.

Following the breakdown of her marriage to Fatboy Slim, Zoe found love again with her partner Billy Yates, but their relationship was also not set to last.

After a long battle with depression, Billy, 40, took his own life in May 2017 at his home in Putney, London.

The Radio 2 presenter previously told how she felt ‘really grateful’ he had said goodbye to her the last time she saw him.

Fighting back tears as she spoke about their final moments together, she said: ‘He got on his bike and he cycled off and he turned round and he blew me a kiss goodbye, and that was the last time I saw him.’

She added: ‘It was just that moment and that feeling of ”Oh my god I love him so much, we’ll find some help and it will all be okay.”

‘And I wish I’d told him that.’

A year after his death, Zoe took part in a gruelling Sport Relief challenge to cycle 350 miles in five days in his memory and to raise awareness of mental health issues.

In May the star paid tribute just a week after confirming the tragic death of her mother Julia.

Following his death, Zoe said she had been ‘in shock for two years’ following the loss.

Alongside a snap of Billy, the radio host wrote: ‘7 years kisses in the sky’.

Despite her loss, the presenter found the courage to love again when she began dating former construction worker Michael Reed.

But while friends said he was a ‘true gent’ at first, their relationship broke down after more than five years in May 2023 after Michael allegedly became ‘a bit demanding’.

The couple had reportedly been arguing about very minor aspects of their life, such as Zoe spending time on her phone talking to friends.

The presenter soon asked Michael to move out of her home, although the two are said to remain on good terms.

In a 2021 interview, Zoe marked the anniversary of her stepfather Rick’s death, sharing that he passed away in 2012 after battling motor neurone disease.

Zoe’s parents Julia and Johnny Ball, a former TV presenter, split up in 1972 after just three years of marriage.

Johnny remarried his second wife, Dianne Cheryl, in 1976, with the pair remaining together today, while Julia remarried Rick.

Speaking on her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show back in 2021, the star discussed the campaigning of former rugby star Doddie Weir, who was raising funds to find a cure for the disease.

She said: ‘Hopefully one day we will find a cure. It’s a real special day in my family today.

‘We lost our stepdad Rick to Motor Neurone Disease on this day, quite a few years back now. We think about him every day, so obviously this is something pretty close to my heart.’

In previous years, Zoe opened up on her struggles with alcohol and wild partying, having become the poster girl for ladette culture.

The mother-of-two said it took her several attempts to tackle her alcohol problem that accompanied her career from children’s television presenter to the first female host of Radio 1’s Breakfast Show.

She said previously: ‘You’ll find that you’ll deal with it a little bit but then you slip back into old ways, It took me a couple of attempts to sort that out.’

Explaining how she finally dealt with her problem drinking, Zoe said: ‘I was lucky enough to go to rehab actually and through meeting other people who had addictions as well.’

Her reputation as a party girl increased after her 1999 marriage to superstar DJ Fatboy Slim, when she often found herself among other female stars known for their booze-fuelled antics.

‘It’s weird, because you do this job and you are talking and are gregarious and all these things but I am actually quite shy. But you could walk into the room if you’d had a drink.’