Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball opened up about the challenges of introducing new partners to her children Woody, 25, and Nelly, 15, after her divorce from Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook
BBC Radio presenter Zoe Ball has opened up about navigating the delicate matter of when to introduce a new partner to her children following a separation. The 55-year-old, who split from husband Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook in 2016 after 18 years of marriage, shares two children: Woody, 25, and Nelly, 15.
Zoe started seeing BAFTA-winning production designer Mathieu Weekes just over a year ago. During a conversation on the podcast Dig It with Jo Whiley, Zoe revealed she has tackled this challenge “quite a few times.”
She laughingly recalled how her children would respond with “Another one?” whenever they learned about someone new in her life. “Introducing new partners, it’s a tricky one,” she said.
“You just have to go with the feeling of it. I think it’s okay to have a bit of a private life that isn’t part of the kids’ life for a little bit.”
She acknowledged that previously she may have been overly enthusiastic about new relationships and “rushed” bringing them into her children’s world: “It’s all a bit much. It’s all a bit much for me. It’s all a bit much for the kids.”
Zoe continued: “Hopefully at some point there is someone where you think actually this person’s pretty cool and they’re pretty laid-back and they’re not going to come in and demand to be part of your kids’ lives.”
She cautioned that the right partner would understand the situation: “I’d be wary of anyone who wants this to happen too soon for you.”
Before finding love with Mathieu, Zoe had been in a relationship with builder-turned-model Michael Reed for approximately five years. However, they parted ways in May 2023, with Zoe confiding to friends that the relationship had “run its course.”
Zoe’s romantic history also includes a dalliance with a friend of her husband back in 2003, which led to a brief separation from Norman.
Zoe advises caution when starting a new relationship, suggesting it is crucial to allow time for it to grow before introducing a partner into your home life. She said: “You might meet a few people and they might initially seem to be fabulous. You may then get to know that they’re complicated because it’s really hard to get to our stage of life without baggage. And initially you might meet someone and think, ‘Oh, wow. This person’s too good to be true.’ And sometimes they are.”
She also acknowledged the difficulty of ending a long-term relationship, even when both parties recognise it is not working out: “It’s so hard to leave a relationship when you know it’s the right thing to do,” she admitted. “You feel awful for the person you’ve left.
“You feel terrible for breaking up a family. You feel guilty for your kids. It is a lot. And it does take such bravery. But when you’re out and the dust starts to settle, you realise that was exactly what you needed to do.”
Zoe offered some comforting words to the podcast listener, saying: “Hopefully your kids, as they get older, you can talk to them a little bit more about why that happened. Sometimes you might not want to talk to them about that. They might not want to hear it. I think sometimes it takes for them to be adults themselves and be in relationships to realise how difficult it is.”
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