Scott Mills will fill in for Zoe Ball on her Radio 2 Breakfast Show for another week, as she continues her time off.
Next week, from Monday to Friday, Scott will host the Breakfast Show, while DJ Spoony and OJ Borg will take over his usual afternoon show.
Zoe hasn’t been on the air since August 8, with Scott and Gabby Roslin covering for her since then.
Scott Mills will stand in for Zoe Ball for another week on her Radio 2 Breakfast Show, as the star continues to take take off
Scott Mills reassured listeners not to worry if their alarm goes off at 6:30 a.m. and Zoe Ball isn’t on the air. “You haven’t overslept,” he said, adding that he’ll be filling in for Zoe for a while.
He also told listeners, “If you’re tuning in now, it’s Scott Mills covering for Zoe for the next few weeks. Sending love to Zoe from me and the team.”
Fans and colleagues are worried about Zoe, who is the BBC’s highest-paid woman with a salary of £950,000.
Before her absence, Zoe had a holiday in Ibiza with her son Woody and daughter Nelly and attended Brighton Pride. She returned to work for three days before leaving again.
The BBC hasn’t explained her absence but said she will be back later this month.
Zoe, who is 53, has been unusually quiet on social media. Her last Instagram post was on August 5, where she shared a picture with her two kids and said she was “jet lagged, Brighton Pride lagged, and Ibiza lagged.”
A BBC insider told The Mail on Sunday, “Nobody knows what’s happened, but everyone loves Zoe.”
“Everyone hopes Zoe is okay. She’s very loved at the BBC, so it’s really noticeable that she’s not around.”
Fans have reached out to the BBC, worried about her well-being.
However, some listeners are unhappy about her taking time off without explaining why. One person tweeted, “Is this a BBC scandal? It seems like Zoe Ball gets to choose her own terms and takes a lot of time off. Are we, the people paying for this, being taken advantage of? No one is saying anything.”
Another person complained, “Why is the BBC still paying Zoe Ball while she’s not on air? They should replace her with someone who wants to work early mornings.”
In March, Zoe took time off to care for her mother, Julia Peckham, who had pancreatic cancer. Julia passed away in April, and Zoe returned to work on May 13. Last year, Zoe took three weeks off to host a show for ITV.
Zoe has faced several personal tragedies. Earlier this year, she took time off to focus on her family. In April, she shared a tribute to her mother on social media, saying, “Sleep tight dear Mama. Thank you for teaching us to love unconditionally and find joy even in tough times. We will miss you but stay close together.”
Besides her mother’s passing, Zoe has also dealt with the end of her five-and-a-half-year relationship with Michael Reed, and her partner Billy Yates took his own life in 2017. This followed the end of her 18-year marriage to DJ Fatboy Slim, whose real name is Norman Cook.
After her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Zoe said she would be stepping away from work to focus on her family.
She mentioned that her family was going through a difficult time but that her mother was being very brave.
At the beginning of March, Zoe shared a photo of her mother, Julia, with family, and another of her receiving chemotherapy in the hospital. Zoe wrote, “Heartbreakingly, our beautiful Mama Julia has been diagnosed with cancer.”
Zoe shared that, as many people know from their own experiences, these are very tough times. She praised her mother for being incredibly brave and thanked the doctors, nurses, and support teams taking care of her.
She also expressed gratitude to their families, friends, and everyone at home and work for their support. Zoe sent love to those battling cancer, waiting for a diagnosis, or caring for loved ones who are unwell.
The family has faced many challenges over the years. Zoe’s parents, Julia and Johnny Ball, split up in 1972 after just three years of marriage. Johnny later remarried Dianne Cheryl in 1976, and they are still together.
As Zoe’s career took off, she and her husband Fatboy Slim supported each other. Slim mentioned on the Changes podcast that Zoe kept him grounded by “checking” his behavior and not letting him get away with things just because of his fame.
Fatboy Slim said Zoe was great for keeping him grounded because she knew how fame worked, and they would help each other stay respectful. If he wasn’t treating people well, Zoe would remind him to be polite and thank them.
Sadly, their marriage ended in 2016, with the couple saying they had “come to the end of their rainbow.”
Zoe later found love with Billy Yates, but their relationship also ended tragically. Billy struggled with depression and took his own life in May 2017 at his home in Putney, London.
Zoe has shared that she felt “really grateful” for their last moments together. She recalled that when Billy left, he blew her a kiss goodbye, and she wished she had told him how much she loved him and believed things would get better.
A year after Billy Yates’ death, Zoe Ball took on a tough Sport Relief challenge, cycling 350 miles in five days to honor him and raise awareness about mental health.
She has continued to remember him each year and even wore a T-shirt with his name when she returned to work at Radio 2.
Despite her grief, Zoe found love again with Michael Reed, a former construction worker. While friends initially saw him as a “true gent,” their relationship ended after more than five years in May 2023. Reports say their relationship struggled because Mr. Reed became “a bit demanding” and they argued over small things, like Zoe spending time on her phone talking to friends.