Zoe Ball has revealed the sad reason she was absent from her Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Thursday morning. It was left up to BBC media editor Amol Rajan to host the show and inform listeners that the 48-year-old was absent due to "personal reasons." Back in her day job on Friday, Zoe revealed that she had taken the day off to attend the funeral of her godfather in Blackpool. "I went to my dear godfather’s funeral. It was his funeral in Blackpool," she told her Radio 2 listeners on Friday morning, "He was the best goddad a girl could ask for."
R.I.P Zoe's godfather
Thursday also marked the two-year anniversary of the funeral of Zoe's late boyfriend, Billy Yates, who took his own life in May 2017 after a long battle with depression. Just before the anniversary of Billy's death On May 4th, Zoe admitted on her show that the heartbreaking day makes her "'heart hurt". She told her listeners: "So tomorrow it's going to be two-years since our dear Billy Yates died. Anyone who has lost someone dear to them, be it a friend or a family member, will know that these anniversaries have a tendency to make your knees wobble and your heart hurt."
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Zoe lost Billy in 2017
She added: "With grief, it's often an every day feeling not just anniversaries. The longer the time without them, the more you miss their ways and their voice in your life. Even though of course they'll never leave your heart. These anniversaries are good as they give you an excuse to just spend some time with your thoughts about them. 'I wanted to send some dear love to his family today and all weekend, and all his brilliant friends - mates with Yates, who we love to pieces."
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Zoe, who has found love again with Michael Reed, dated Billy following the end of her marriage to Norman Cook, and the couple were first pictured together in February 2017.
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