Zoe Ball now ‘working in a cafe’ with ex-husband Fatboy Slim after ditching £950,000 BBC job
It's quite the change from a radio studio.
Zoe Ball is enjoying a slower pace of life after recently pressing pause on her lengthy radio career.
The former BBC Radio 2 breakfast presenter, 54, stepped down from her role in December after six years to ‘focus on her family’ and in doing so, said goodbye to her £950,000 salary.
While she has another mystery project set to start in March, she’s had some time on her hands to dabble in other things, which includes joining her ex-husband Fatboy Slim—real name Norman Cook—behind the till at his cafe.
Norman, 61, purchased the Big Beach Cafe in Hove from Sir Paul McCartney’s ex-Heather Mills in 2013 and has been spotted working there on several occasions.
Now, he has an extra set of hands, with his and Zoe’s son Woody, 24, revealing to MailOnline that it’s just one of the things his mum has been doing since saying goodbye to the breakfast show.
Admitting it’s been ‘funny’ to watch his ‘crazy party’ parents – who also share 14-year-old daughter Nelly – swap nights out for calming hobbies, he revealed that in addition to the cafe, they have been focusing on ‘gardening’ and ‘doing puzzles’.
Zoe shares two children, Nelly and Woody, with her ex-husband (Picture: Instagram/@zoeball) The family have remained tight-knit despite Zoe and Norman separating in 2020 (Picture: Instagram)‘These crazy party people I grew up with are now gardening, making puzzles and working in the local café.’
‘It’s very funny to see that transitional period, just as I’m kind of leaving the nest and now at the start of something big for me in music,’ he told the news outlet.
While it’s unclear if Zoe is being paid for her work at the cafe, if she was, it would be a huge change in salary as cafe workers in the UK are estimated to make an average annual income of £18,080, which, if working full time, equates to approximately £10 per hour.
Woody, who is pursing a DJ career, also spoke about how ‘lovely’ it is to see his mum more compared to when she was doing the early morning radio shift.
‘There were a lot of times when we were on literally the opposite schedules, so to have a bit more togetherness and be able to see each other more is nice.’
Zoe may have given up her busy job, but between gardening, working at a cafe and puzzles, she’s got her hands full (Picture: BBC/PA Wire)Mostly, he said he’s happy she now has the time to focus on things she’s wanted to do for a long time.
‘Who knows what will come next? That might be the more you know up in the air, but at the moment, you know, she’s great, and we’re definitely more of a family unit than we’ve ever been.’
Zoe hasn’t yet revealed what her next project will be but she did tease that she’ll be back on Radio 2 in the spring for ‘new adventures’.
Woody is quite stoked to be spending more time with his mum (Picture: Channel Four)Zoe’s decision to step down from her role at BBC Radio 2 came nine months after her mum, Julia Peckham, lost her battle with cancer.
It was a huge decision for the star as her show was not only the most listened-to breakfast show in the UK but also a trailblazer within the BBC, as she was the first female host of the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998.
Unfortunately, for Zoe and her family, they were hit with another devastating loss on Christmas day when Norman’s mum, Ros Cook also died.
Woody said the losses, while heartbreaking, have had a silver lining as it has brought the family ‘closer together’.
Zoe and Norman divorced in 2020 after more than two decades together but remain close friends as they co-parent their two children.
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