Zoe Ball and Fatboy Slim: Exes, Soulmates, Co-Parents

They were known for their notorious partying ways during the nineties as and Fatboy Slim, real name Norman Cook, navigated the wild British music scene together. 

Tying the knot in 1999, the couple went on to welcome two children, a son Woody in 2000 and their daughter Nelly 10 years later. 

However after almost two decades together the pair split for good in 2016, yet unlike many splits, especially in the public eye, Zoe and Norman have managed to remain friends and are still incredibly close. 

Earlier this week Zoe revealed her daughter Nelly has moved in full time with Norman as she admitted she would rather just be in one place. 

While the couple still live nearby, Zoe explained: 'It's great because it's only around the corner and I can nip round at any time, which is great, and she can come here if she gets upset about anything like, 'Mum, I need you' but it's less and less.'

Zoe and Norman began their romance in 1997 after they met in Ibiza and they married two years later at Babington House in Somerset.

After welcoming Woody in 2000, they split briefly in 2003 when it emerged she had an affair with a close friend of her husband's DJ Dan Peppe.

Following the revelation Norman said he still loved Zoe and would take her back, as long as she promised never to see Peppe again. 

The Praise You hitmaker confessed at the time: 'I still love her. If you love someone you'll forgive them.

'I've spoken to her today and she is genuinely remorseful.'

However in September 2016 they announced their official separation. In a joint statement, the pair wrote: 'With great sadness we are announcing that we have separated.'

Opening up on her 'painful' divorce earlier this year, Zoe confessed: 'You try everything and then think this is not working.

'The anticipation of just coming out with it and saying to your partner "right it's the time". It's so scary because it's overwhelming on all fronts, you're worrying about the kids, you're worrying about your partner, you're worrying about you and how it will all work out.

'Something I can tell you from personal experience is, yes it is a lot to go through but you will come out the other side of it.

'The fact that you know you need to do this, you will all be better in the end. The kids will be fine, it's amazing how resilient kids can be.'

She added: 'I tried moving a couple of doors down for a little bit when I split up with Norm. We were lucky that my mum lived a couple of doors down and she was like "I'll go somewhere you come here".

'It was a little too close to comfort after a while and it is all quite painful but I've not done the nesting myself.'

Despite the breakdown of their marriage, the couple are firm friends, with Norman seen comforting Zoe during her absence from Radio 2 while she was grieving the loss of her mother.

Looking back fondly on their first date seven years after their split she said: 'I mean we're great mates, it's amazing. Our first date we had crab, like a crab cooked in some slippy sauce.

'Do not eat crab on your first date. Bits flying off all over the place.'

In 2025 Norman described Zoe as his 'soulmate' as he described how she helped him navigate fame. 

Speaking to The Mirror, he gushed: 'Zoe is a very kind, thoughtful person and she just had this way of just checking my ego like "We are still human beings. We are still nice to people."'

'She brought me through the trickier bits. If you are out with your mates you can't say to them "I am having trouble coping with fame." You are not going to get a lot of sympathy.

'But to Zoe I could say "I am a bit scared. Is this not scary?" We could talk about it as we were thrust into the same spotlight. It was nice to have a soulmate in there with you.' 

Earlier in 2023 he also told the Changes podcast: 'One thing I did have to keep a lid on during that crazy time was my ego.

'While you've got licence to break rules, you've always got a lot of people who'll let you get away with murder.

'Zoe was really good for me for that, because she knew the fame game and we would sort of check each other.

'If I wasn't respectful to people, she'd go: 'Oi, come on, that's not how we behave! Go back and thank them for that.'

'We were both quite good at keeping each other's feet on the ground. Because it's hard when everyone's saying: 'Here, have this, take this, drink this, you're brilliant.'

Even Zoe's dad Johnny admitted they are in a better place now they are separated than when they are together. 

He previously said: 'They're very good friends today, you know. They're great friends. They're divorced, but they're better….

'If you like they're closer today than they were when they were married. And that's a lovely thing. It's a lovely thing.'

While the pair have had a less traditional co-parenting arrangement due to their crazy work schedules, earlier this week Zoe revealed her house is now feeling a lot quieter as Woody has moved out and Nelly has now chosen to live at her dads. 

On the latest episode of Jo Whiley and Zoe's Dig It podcast, the presenter contrasted Jo's busy household with her own, which has become noticeably quieter.

She said: 'Mine's so quiet, it's like ugh! It's less and less because Nel is based more at her dad's now because I think she's got to that point of, "Ah can I just be in one place?"

'All of her CSI revision notes are on the wall at her dads and it's just [nice] not having to move from house to house, so she's just spending more time there now.'

The move, Zoe clarified, has been made easier by the fact that Norman lives nearby.

'It's great because it's only around the corner and I can nip round at any time, which is great, and she can come here if she gets upset about anything like, 'Mum, I need you' but it's less and less,' she added.