Zoe Ball has opened up about how gardening helped her navigate grief after the death of her boyfriend Billy Yates.
The BBC broadcaster, 54, sat down with her co-host Jo Whiley for an emotional chat during the latest episode of their podcast Dig It on Tuesday.
The duo were discussing how gardening can help people through different struggles in life, when Zoe revealed it became a safe space to remember her late partner Billy, who passed away aged 40 in 2017.
The cameraman took his own life after a long battle with depression, with Zoe revealing she’d been ‘in shock for two years’ following the loss.
‘People bought roses for me when I lost Billy and Billy had tattoos up his arm of roses,’ Zoe, who also lost her mother last year to cancer, recalled.
‘When we lost him a lot of loved ones went and got the rose tattoo for him so people bought me roses to grow for him, which was such a lovely thing.
Zoe Ball has opened up about how gardening helped her navigate grief after the death of her boyfriend Billy Yates
Zoe revealed gardening became a safe space to remember her late partner Billy, who passed away aged 40 in 2017 after tragically taking his own life following a long battle with depression (Zoe and Billy pictured together)
‘And we’ve talked about, you know, lost loved ones and how wonderful it is when these plants come to life and you know they are always with you.
The radio presenter continued: ‘So that was where it started and I love that garden, it just became a place for me to take time at the end of the day and be able to breath in and breath out.
‘And then you learn how wonderful is to grow something yourself.
‘I realised how good it was for me and how much I loved it,’ she added fondly.
In May, Zoe paid tribute to Billy as she marked eight years since his tragic death.
It has been a turbulent time for the radio host, who lost her mother in April last year following a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
Following the death of her mother, Zoe decided to step away from her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show to spend more time with her family.
Zoe also took time away from her show, which was the Saturday afternoon slot at the time, when Billy passed away.
She recalled: ‘When we lost him a lot of loved ones went and got the rose tattoo for him so people bought me roses to grow for him, which was such a lovely thing’
‘It just became a place for me to take time at the end of the day and be able to breath in and breath out,’ Zoe added
Alongside a picture of Billy on his motorbike wearing a pair of shades, she wrote at the time: ‘8 years forever in our hearts Billface #mateswithyates.’
Zoe’s 15-year-old daughter Nelly replied in the comments she ‘missed him every day’, while also sharing her own tribute online.
Nelly posted a picture of Billy on her Instagram Story and wrote: ‘8 years’.
Zoe received supportive messages from other friends, including presenter Gaby Roslin who shared a white heart underneath the post.
Other comments said ‘big love’ and ‘much love’ as friends sent well wishes to the star.
Last year to commemorate the occasion, Zoe shared a selfie of Billy and wrote: ‘7 years. Kisses in the sky.’
In an emotional interview on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in February 2020, Zoe spoke of Billy’s death and the grief she endured after he took his own life.
Zoe discussed the cameraman’s struggle with mental health and revealed that Billy lived with depression for most of his life.
In May, Zoe paid a tribute to Billy (pictured) as she marked eight years since his tragic death while they were together
Speaking to Discs host Lauren Laverne about the ordeal, she explained she watched him suffer with mental health and has encouraged anyone else struggling to reach out for help.
Zoe said: ‘I think it’s so isolating to be trapped in your mind like that, when you doubt yourself, you doubt everything you’ve ever known. You doubt your family love you. You doubt your friends care for you.’
But she insisted there is always help available and that ‘it’s important to share there is hope.’
Zoe remembered the man she loved and said ‘he was so full of love and would help anyone in need’, and insisted he should be ‘remembered for his life, not his death,’
Speaking of the song Do I Love You by Frank Wilson, which she dedicated to Billy, Zoe said: ‘This track will always remind me of him. He loved to dance and loved to laugh and he brought so much into my life.
She added: ‘ I wanted to play a piece of music for him that reflected him as a human.’
