Johnny Ball claims daughter Zoe Ball now has a better relationship with ex-husband Norman Cook than when they were married.
The former children’s TV presenter, 87, made the surprising revelation in a new interview with Boom Radio – almost 10 years after Zoe and Norman confirmed their 2016 separation.
While the couple were together for 18 years, their relationship was not entirely smooth sailing and they briefly split in 2003 after Zoe had an affair with DJ Dan Peppe.
Johnny said: ‘They’re very good friends today, you know. They’re great friends. 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. It’s a lovely thing.’
The former couple share two children together – Woody Fred Cook, 24, and Nelly May Louise Cook, 15.
Johnny Ball has claimed his daughter Zoe Ball has a better relationship with her ex-husband Fatboy Slim now than when they were married
The TV personality, 87, made the surprising revelation in a new interview with Boom Radio – almost 10 years on from their 2016 separation (Pictured in 2002 at Glastonbury)
Zoe confessed to having an affair with Peppe in 2003, with Norman admitting he would forgive his wife on the condition that she never see the DJ again.
He said at the time: ‘I didn’t know about the affair until Zoe rang me … to tell me it was about to come out. She said she’s been seeing a DJ, Dan Peppe, who she met through a mutual friend.
‘I still love her. If you love someone you’ll forgive them. I’ve spoken to her today and she is genuinely remorseful,’ he said.
‘She said, “I’m so, so sorry”. I still want her to come back as long as she promises she won’t see him again and not do this again.’
Zoe was quick to follow in her father’s showbiz footsteps and made a successful career for herself as a DJ in the nineties.
It was this work that caused her to cross paths with Norman, who performs and records as Fatboy Slim, while working for Radio 1 in Ibiza in 1998.
Following the couple’s permanent split in 2017, Norman spoke of going through a ‘traumatic year’ and said that music provided him with a much-needed form of escapism.
He told the Daily Star: ‘My music and shows have always been about escapism, for people to forget what’s wrong in their life.
The former couple, pictured in 2015 with their son Woody, are reported to have settled into an effective co-parenting relationship and Zoe praised Norman’s ability as a father in 2020 to Red magazine, describing him as the ‘best dad’
‘I’ve done it for 30 years but, because my life was happy, I was providing that escapism for the crowds. And now they’re providing that escapism for me.
‘Having hit a traumatic year, for those two hours when I’m on stage, I forget all my worries and I feel like I can escape.’
He admitted that he actually feels like he is a better DJ when he is going through difficult things in his personal life.
He added: ‘Because of my marital situation, I have a lot more time on my hands.
‘Practically, I see less of the kids than I used to, so I have more time to make music.’
Following the couple’s split, Zoe entered into a relationship with Billy Yates in 2017, a cameraman who tragically died by suicide that same year.
The camera man sadly took his own life after a long battle with depression, with Zoe later revealing she’d been ‘in shock for two years’ following the loss.
Speaking candidly to Discs host Lauren Laverne about the ordeal, she admitted that watching him suffer and struggle with mental health and has encouraged anyone else struggling to reach out for help.
Zoe said: ‘I think it’s so isolating to be trapped in your mind like that, when you doubt yourself, you doubt everything you’ve ever known. You doubt your family love you. You doubt your friends care for you.’
But she insisted there is always help available and that ‘it’s important to share there is hope.’
Zoe remembered the man she loved and said ‘he was so full of love and would help anyone in need’, and insisted he should be ‘remembered for his life, not his death,’
Speaking of the song Do I Love You by Frank Wilson, which she dedicated to Billy, she said: ‘This track will always remind me of him. He loved to dance and loved to laugh and he brought so much into my life.
She added: ‘ I wanted to play a piece of music for him that reflected him as a human.’
The presenter went on to date Michael Reed in 2017, but the couple separated in 2023 after ‘growing apart’.
Zoe had been dating the former construction worker for five-and-a-half years, however sources told The Sun the relationship began to break down after Michael became ‘a bit demanding’.
The publication reported that Michael has since been asked by the TV star to move out of her £1.5million sprawling Sussex home.
The source said: ‘Zoe is gutted but she’s better off without Michael. This is a relief to many of her friends, who think she has done the right thing.
‘Now it seems the relationship has finally run its course. She asked him to move out and he has done so, although they have remained on good terms.’
In April 2024 she suffered further heartbreak after her mother Julia lost her battle with pancreatic cancer.
Zoe had previously announced her cancer diagnosis in March, shortly after posting what would be the final photo of Julia, taken during a family holiday in Antigua.
Paying tribute to Julia, she wrote: ‘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.’
While Zoe’s love life has played out publicly since splitting with Norman, little is known about his romances since their breakup, although he was linked to Zoe’s friend Nicola Lokko in 2018.
The former couple are reported to have settled into an effective co-parenting relationship and Zoe praised Norman’s ability as a father in 2020 to Red magazine, describing him as the ‘best dad’.
She said: ‘He is such a good friend and a good guy. It’s not always been easy and it’s taken time.’
