Zoe Ball has admitted she sometimes wonders if stepping down from her flagship BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show was the right choice, after giving up the role to spend more time with her teenage daughter.
The broadcaster, 54, left the high-profile job and its reported £950,000 salary in December to “focus on family” but revealed her daughter Nelly, 15, is rarely home.
Speaking on the Parenting Hell podcast with comedians Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe, Ball said: “I gave up work because she's going to do her GCSEs but she's never there.
“She's out with her mates. I'm like, ‘I've given up work for you.”
“I am like ‘What did I give up for?’ Yeah, I have thought about it because I've been through this a bit with Woody, but I had the joy of having Nell still around. I don't know .”
She went on to explain that her decision to leave wasn’t just about exams but also about navigating the ‘tricky’ teenage years.
“For girls, 15 is booze and boys. It's a nightmare. It's an absolute mind-fielder,” Ball explained.
“I've made sure that I'm at shows and matches and stuff like that. But it's only since giving up the breakfast show that I now do the school run in the morning and I love it.”
Despite the big career change, the broadcaster admitted Nelly isn’t always thrilled by the new arrangement.
Ball added: 'You know, she's 15, so she doesn't really want to talk. She doesn't really want you to drive her to school, if anything.”
The British presenter first took over the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2019, becoming the first woman to host the slot in the station’s history.
After almost six years at the helm, she officially handed over to Scott Mills in December 2024, months after the death of her mother, Julia, in April.
The broadcaster, who shares Nelly and son Woody, 24, with ex-husband Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), continues to host a weekly Radio 2 show.
Elsewhere, Ball shared how gardening became a source of comfort as she navigated the grief of losing her partner Billy Yates.
The BBC radio host reflected on her experiences during a recent episode of Dig It, the podcast she co-hosts with Jo Whiley.
Discussing the therapeutic benefits of gardening, Ball revealed it became a safe space for her after Yates died in 2017.
She shared: “People bought roses for me when I lost Billy and Billy had tattoos up his arm of roses.
“When we lost him a lot of loved ones went and got the rose tattoo for him so people bought me roses to grow for him, which was such a lovely thing.”
Adding: “And we’ve talked about lost loved ones and how wonderful it is when these plants come to life and you know they are always with you.”
Yates, a cameraman, died aged 40 after a long struggle with depression.
Speaking on the podcast, she described how her garden became a retreat.
“That was where it started and I love that garden,” she shared. “It just became a place for me to take time at the end of the day and be able to breathe in and breathe out.
“And then you learn how wonderful it is to grow something yourself. I realised how good it was for me and how much I loved it.”
