Zoe Ball in drunken kiss with pop singer 23 years her junior
PICTURES have emerged of married TV presenter Zoe Ball kissing a boy band member 23 years her junior.
Ball, 45, was photographed in a passionate embrace with aspiring singer TayTay Starhz, 22, after a drunken night out in London.
The mother-of-two, who developed a reputation for being a hard- drinking ‘ladette’ during the 1990s, tied the knot with DJ Fatboy Slim, real name Norman Cook, more than 15 years ago.
Miss Ball was caught kissing Starhz in the early hours of Thursday morning, after a boozy work party to celebrate the end of another series of Strictly spin-off It Takes Two.
Yesterday, she tweeted: ‘Ouch. ITT wrap party last night. Piecing together the crew’s drunken antics in Soho.’
This is not the first time Ball has wandered away from her marriage. The former Live and Kicking host previously had an illicit tryst in 2003 with DJ Dan Peppe, but she later reconciled with her husband. She later described the affair as an ‘early mid-life crisis’.
Starhz, a member of band Franklin Lake, reportedly did not know who Ball was as he locked lips with her on the dance floor of Freedom nightclub. He only realised she was a celebrity when he searched for her online the following day, remembering he had kissed someone ‘old enough to be my mum’.
A source told The Sun that Starhz revealed to friends that ‘all he remembered was kissing an older blonde woman. The next day when he Googled her he was shocked.
‘The name still didn’t ring a bell with him even though she’s one of the most recognizable faces on TV. He reckons it must be because he was too
‘Drunken antics in Soho’
young when she was at the peak of her fame. But TayTay really isn’t the kind of guy to get embroiled in a marriage drama so he’s mortified.’
And an insider told The Daily Mirror: ‘Zoe told Norman as soon as she got home and he knows that it is completely meaningless.’
In 2009 Cook entered a rehab facility to fight alcoholism, which he admitted he had been struggling with for ‘some time’. Ball, who has had her own struggles with alcohol, also claims to have significantly reduced the amount she drinks, claiming she now has just ‘one cocktail’ on a night out and no beer or wine.
However, reports suggest she had far more than a single drink at the celebrations on Wednesday night.
In a recent interview with Woman & Home magazine, she admitted she does not have a ‘perfect marriage’, describing it as a ‘ work in progress’. She said: ‘Things go wrong and you have ups and downs – it’s not easy. But I’m glad that, after almost 17 years, we seem to be doing okay’.
Speaking on Radio 1 earlier this year, the daughter of TV presenter Johnny Ball, said: ‘It would take something pretty mammoth to rock us now’.
She privately admitted to her first affair after learning that it was set to be made public.
Cook forgave her and said at that time: ‘ I still love her. If you love someone you’ l l forgive them. I’ve spoken to her today and she is genuinely remorseful.
‘She said, “I’m so, so sorry”. I still want her to come back as long as she promises she won’t see him again and not do this again.’
The couple now live together with their children Woody, 15, and Nelly, five, in Western Esplanade, Hove. Spokespeople for both Cook and Ball did not respond to requests for comment last night.