From Britpop boozers to Radio 2 mums, best friends Zoe Ball and Sara Cox are rivals for Chris Evans’ job
THEY were the party-loving pioneers of Ladette Britain who worked and holidayed together — and were even bridesmaids at each other’s weddings.
Now, 20 years on, Sara Cox and Zoe Ball live separate lives — but this week the former best pals became rivals for the plum job of Radio 2 breakfast show host.
The battle, which was triggered when Chris Evans announced he will be leaving to join Virgin Radio, looks set to drive a further wedge between the two women.
Four years ago Sara, 43, said of her once-close friendship with Zoe, 47: “We lost touch. It’s a bit sad but she’s down in Brighton and has a family of her own too.”
Today the one-time besties have swapped boozing for healthy living.
Gail Porter, a former friend of the pair and another presenter dubbed with the ladette label, recalled: “Zoe and Sara loved a laugh and a drink.
“Whenever someone had a free pass for an event with free booze and food we would be there.”
Gail, 47, added: “It’s a shame they’ve drifted apart. But whoever gets the job at Radio 2, I’m sure the other will be happy.”
Mum-of-three Sara has filled in for current host Chris, 52 when he is off.
He tipped her to bag his breakfast show job, saying: “I know my money’s on Sara”, helping to make her the bookies’ favourite at 4/7, while Zoe is close behind with odds of 5/2.
Sara, from Bolton, was born less than an hour away from Zoe, who is originally from Blackpool.
They first met at a party in the early Nineties. At the start of their careers, Zoe led the way while Sara followed in her shadow.
The daughter of Eighties kids’ TV host Johnny Ball, Zoe landed her first big telly gig in 1996 when she fronted cult Channel 4 morning programme The Big Breakfast.
Less than two years later, Sara landed the same role after impressing on Channel 4’s The Girlie Show.
ZOE BALL, 47
- Born in Blackpool, North West England
- Joined The Big Breakfast in 1996
- Joined Radio 1 Breakfast show in 1998
- Married DJ Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook in 1999
- Divorced him in 2016
- Now a mother of two from her marriage to Cook
In the meantime Zoe fronted BBC1 Saturday morning kids’ show Live And Kicking with Jamie Theakston before becoming Radio 1’s breakfast host in 1998.
She left in 2000 after less than 18 months. Sara replaced her — going on to present the show for more than three years.
Like their careers, their personal lives followed similar paths.
Zoe married Fatboy Slim DJ Norman Cook while Sara dated another dance music celeb, Leeroy Thornhill from The Prodigy.
Along with the likes of Denise Van Outen and Gail Porter, they were branded ladettes for their all-night drinking at London nightspots such as the Met Bar.
The pair became Glastonbury regulars and Cox regularly joined Zoe and Norman on holiday in Ibiza.
They even featured in a poll of the sexiest women of the 1990s run by men’s mag FHM. Zoe was 97th and Sara 130th.
Drug-taking and drinking around their group — which sometimes involved bands such as Oasis and All Saints’ Appleton sisters — was often rife.
Speaking in 2008, Sara said: “We were very spoilt and I suppose drugs were part of it.” Sara was her pal’s bridesmaid among just 40 guests when Zoe wed Norman in 1999 at Bath Register Office. But it was in the early 2000s that the pair’s lives diverged.
Zoe moved to Brighton with Norman, where the pair had children Woody and Nelly — now 17 and eight.
After daughter Nelly was born, they embarked on six years of sobriety.
In 2003, they separated briefly after Zoe had a fling with her husband’s close pal, DJ Dan Peppe.
SARA COX, 43
- Born in Bolton, North West England
- Joined The Big Breakfast in 1998
- Joined Radio 1 Break fast show in 2000
- Married DJ Jon Carter in 2001
- Divorced in 2005
- Now mum of three – first child with Carter, two by second husband Ben Cyzer
They split for good in 2016 after 18 years. It was suggested the reason for the break-up was that Zoe had deciding to go back to drinking.
Her dad Johnny, 80, later revealed how she had found “a new lease of life” after meeting cameraman Billy Yates, 40, in 2017.
But tragedy struck just months later after he took his own life at his home in Putney, South West London.
Zoe later said: “I sometimes think, ‘Why could I not save him?’”
But in July she found love again with construction boss Michael Reed, 47.
Earlier this year, she credited “no booze” for getting through “two of the toughest years of my life”. Now she has taken up running, cycles five days a week and has even talked about taking up bell ringing after moving into a £950,000 home in Ditchling, East Sussex, which is next to a church.
Zoe, who has presented Strictly spin-off It Takes Two since 2011, has now tried to cut sugar from her diet. The only indulgence she allows herself is almonds.
Sara has not been pictured with Zoe since 2016. Like her pal, she too went through a break-up.
In 2005, she ended her four-year marriage with Essex DJ hubby Jon Carter, 48, who is the father of her daughter Lola.
She soon embarked on a relationship with London ad exec Ben Cyzer, 43, who she has now been married to for five years.
It was around this time that Sara also kicked her hard-partying ways. She joked: “I’m so boring I can feel my life draining away.”
She now lives in North West London with Ben and her children Lola, 15, Isaac, 11, and nine-year-old Renee.
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Sara, who grew up on her dad’s cattle farm, only eats organic food, goes meat-free two days a week and has quit smoking.
This week, after Chris Evans tipped her for his job and fans took to social media to say she deserves to get the gig, Sara wrote: “Today on Twitter has felt like one massive hug. Thank you.”
She is still awaiting the endorsement from her old friend Zoe.
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