ZOE Ball has sobbed her way through her latest podcast.
The star – who recently quit BBC Radio 2 again – could not hold back her tears when hearing the story of the death of one of her podcast listeners’ mothers.
Her emotional display comes two years after her own mother’s passing and her ’emotional breakdown’.
On her podcast, Dig It, which she hosts with close pal and fellow BBC star Jo Whiley, the ladies heard the story of a sad Christmas death of one fan’s mother.
The story heard the fan tell the pair how her mum had requested to spend Christmas and New Year alone as she was feeling exhausted.
The fan, called Di, said: “I think the tiredness was all a sign that her body had started to fail her…
“And on New Year’s Eve, she went out, she put her coat on, she went out to feed the birds and just slipped away in her garden…
“Her garden was her pride and joy, she loved all the wildlife that entered it, so it really was, for her, the perfect Christmas and the perfect death’.
The story left the pair sobbing as Zoe said: “Oh Di, what a gorgeous message. Everything you just shared there… your mum sounds like an amazing lady.”
She then added: “Those memories of them and hearing you say how much you miss her five years later, yeah, I’m with you there, totally…
“We miss our lost loves don’t we. Thank goodness for having them in our lives and everything they bring into our lives.”
Zoe’s own mum, Julia, passed in 2024 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
She opened up on the struggles she faced in the wake of losing her mum in September and recalled how she had suffered an emotional breakdown.
The presenter said last year: “I had a proper emotional breakdown, you know, I haven’t really talked about it actually. But it was, yeah, it was brutal.
“I had an amazing doctor who turned up at my door with coffee and bagels and said, ‘so, we need to get you some help’, and he was wonderful.”
Zoe’s tearful display comes as rumours grow that she could be about to replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman on Strictly.
She told The Sunday Times: “Obviously, there’s a part of me that would love to do it.
“But I will still be watching, whoever hosts.”
Zoe has a long history with the dance show.
She finished third as a celeb contestant in 2005, and hosted sister series It Takes Two for ten series between 2011 and 2020.
She also stepped in for Claudia for a spell on the main programme in 2014.
Zoe said the new hosts would have a “tough act to follow”.
