TV presenter Johnny Ball says his daughter, radio presenter Zoe Ball, has told him she is in “such a good place” after quitting her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show.
Zoe stepped down from the coveted morning slot at the end of 2024 to “focus on family” following the death of her mother who died from cancer in April last year.
She took over from Chris Evans on the show in 2019, becoming the station’s first full-time female breakfast presenter in the process. Scott Mills replaced her in January.
Speaking about his daughter’s break from radio, Johnny told Saga Magazine: “Zoe’s taken to broadcasting as well as I did – in fact, she’s done better than me.
“She’s earned considerably more money from it.”
“Her mum died last year and she’s had various other problems, but she’s chuffed to have packed in the Radio 2 breakfast show, as she’s realised every day has 24 hours now.
“Her days used to start at 4am and by the time it got to midday she was knackered. She visited me recently and said: ‘I’m in such a good place’.”
It was announced in November that Ball will return to Radio 2 with a new weekly show on Saturday afternoons from 1pm to 2pm this spring. She will also host two specials, including a BBC TV show celebrating Elaine Paige’s 60-year career in the showbiz world, with a concert dedicated to the singer.
Zoe was the BBC’s highest-paid on-air female presenter in 2023/24 with a salary between £950,000 and £954,999. This ranked her second on the list of top-earning talent behind Gary Lineker, according to the corporation’s annual report published in July.
Her departure from Radio 2 came after she took time off in April 2024 to care for her mother, Julie Peckham, who was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer earlier that year. In April, Peckham died aged 74, and Zoe was absent from the show with Gaby Roslin and Scott Mills stepping in to cover her.
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In November, after Zoe revealed she would be leaving, she announced she had a temporomandibular joint disorder, which affects the movement of the jaw, according to the NHS.
She has said that she wakes up most days with “awful headaches” due to a health condition which causes pain in the jaw joint and surrounding muscles.
After she left the show, her son Woody, who she shares with ex-husband Fatboy Slim, revealed that his mother was adapting to a slower pace of life and was working in a beachside café owned by the DJ, real name Norman Cook.
“These crazy party people I grew up with are now gardening, making puzzles and working in the local café,” Woody told MailOnline of his parents.
Read the full interview in Saga Magazine, or online at saga.co.uk/magazine.
With additional reporting from Press Association
