Hove TV and radio presenter Zoe Ball has spoken out about her heavy drinking and “ladette” lifestyle.
Ball, the wife of Norman Cook – aka the DJ Fatboy Slim – said she woke up one morning after a New Year’s Eve party which was “total carnage”.
She said: “I sat sobbing, knowing if I didn’t stop I’d end up in a mental home.”
In an interview with Grazia magazine, she said: “I called a therapist I’d been seeing and asked for help.”
She was advised to undergo rehab for alcoholism but felt that she couldn’t trust Cook, who was also an alcoholic, to take care of their son Woody, now 9.
The BBC Radio 2 presenter, who turns 40 next month, said: “I tried to straighten myself out several times, but I’d always go back.
“It’s so hard when everyone around you is drinking.
“It’s bloody tough, bloody painful, trying to get sober on your own.”
She did manage to clean up her act but said: “The harder I tried, the more Norm went in the other direction.”
Despite arguments she persuaded Cook to accept help for his drink problem in March last year.
She said: “He did it. What a man! He’s strong, he’s changed, he’s unbelievable and we are solid.”
Once Cook, 47, came out of rehab, the couple, who live on the seafront near Hove Lagoon, went on holiday and Ball became pregnant.
She told Grazia that she was convinced that her and Cook’s drinking had rendered them infertile.
Now they have stopped, they have a daughter Nelly to show for it.
Nelly was born in January – a year after Ball’s painful sober awakening.
Congratulations to both Zoe and Norman for getting their lives under control.
What makes me wonder, though, is who wrote that headline.
Did Ms Ball really put the responsibility for her condition on the alcohol?
Call me naive, but I suspect the drinks didn’t get out of the bottles/glasses without some help.
It is indeed possible to get out from under an alcoholic habit – for good. Though it requires that the person concerned accept resposibility both for what they did – and what they have subsequently achieved.