Zoe Ball reveals health condition with 'awful' headaches following BBC exit
By India McTaggart
Zoe Ball has revealed she has a health condition that leaves her with "awful" headaches following her BBC breakfast show exit.
The presenter and DJ, 54, announced earlier this month that she is stepping down from hosting the "very early mornings" on Radio 2 to "focus on family".
On Wednesday night (Thursday in Australia), however, she shared on Instagram that she wakes up on most days "with awful headaches from tension and jaw clenching" as a result of TMJ, which stands for the temporomandibular joint.
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Zoe Ball, pictured here in 2005, was the BBC's highest paid on-air female presenter for the year. She started at Radio 1 in 1998. Getty
She has been presenting the morning programme for six years and was the BBC's highest paid on-air female presenter in 2023/2024 with a salary between £950,000 and £954,999 (approx. $1.85 million to $1.86 million), according to the broadcaster's annual report.
Announcing her departure on November 19, she said that "it's time for me to step away from the very early mornings and focus on family… I'm excited to embrace my next chapter, including being a mum in the mornings, and I can't wait to tune in on the school run".
Ball, who became the first female host of the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998, later announced that she had TMJ by uploading pictures of herself before and after getting a lymphatic drainage massage on her face to relax the jaw muscles.
TMJ disorders are a group of conditions that affect the joint connecting the lower jaw to the skull as well as the muscles that control jaw movements. Symptoms can include headaches, jaw, neck and shoulder pain, dizziness and vision problems.
The presenter and mother-of-two said on-air that she was stepping down to "start a new chapter," but later added that she would not be "disappearing entirely" from Radio 2, teasing that there would be an update in the New Year.
Her last show will be on December 20, before her friend and colleague Scott Mills takes over presenting the programme.
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Mills, who currently presents the Radio 2 weekday afternoon show, said he is "beyond excited" to assume the role.
He had previously stepped in to cover Ball's six-week absence from hosting over the summer, before she returned to the breakfast show in September.
She said she was "thrilled" that Mills would be following in her footsteps, adding: "Scott and I go way back to our Radio 1 days, when he was doing early mornings before me."
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"He's been a close friend for years, and I'm beyond thrilled it's him taking over the breakfast show. Breakfast has always been his dream, and what a year he's had – from racing around the world to his beautiful wedding to Sam," she said.
"He's not only a blooming brilliant producer but one of the best in radio."
Helen Thomas, the head of BBC Radio 2, said she was "thrilled" that Ball will remain "an important part of the Radio 2 family".
© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2024
