26 December 2023 , 18:00
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Zoe Ball has revealed she has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The Radio 2 presenter, 53, says the condition, which her son Woody also has, leaves her unable to complete what some people might consider to be simple tasks. “My brain is just all over the goddamn shop,” she says.
The condition affects behaviour, and can affect concentration levels as well as causing restlessness. Zoe particularly felt the effects of her condition while filming Taskmaster, which airs on January 2, where one task involving a toaster required mathematical timings. Trying to work the maths caused her to “melt down”.
“I am ADHD,” she explains. “My son [Woody] and I are both, we’re quite similar. I make myself laugh sometimes, because if I’m in a small space and I’ve got loads of tasks to do, I can cover so many miles. My family, they laugh because they’ll find things of mine in certain places and they’re like, ‘If you follow this, you’ll see what Mum was trying to achieve.’
Zoe Ball and her son Woody have ADHD“I have 18 pairs of glasses and I will still lose all of them… my brain is just all over the goddamn shop. So a particular task involved a bit of timing, which is maths, which is, again, not a strength, I physically started to melt down. That did hurt my head.”
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Woody, her 23-year-old son with DJ Fatboy Slim, has described how he coped with his disorder by drinking alcohol. “I have ADHD and dyslexia,” he previously said.
“I was at this point where I wanted to do well, but I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t write an essay. I had my dad yelling at me to work harder, and I was trying. I would literally cry that I can’t do it. My life was falling apart and the only time I was happy was when I was drunk.”
Other celebrities including Denise Van Outen and Harry Potter star Emma Watson have the condition. Now Zoe says she has become increasingly carefree as she gets older, saying of 2024: “I’m just hoping for more daft adventures. I’m in my 50s and I’m like, I’m having so much fun.”
She also jokes she has a “mum crush” on Taskmaster hosts Greg Davies and Alex Horne, who set a poppadom-eating challenge and the tricky toaster-popping task. “The two of them are adored by men and women, old and young. There is something wonderful about being abused by them,” she laughs. “People would pay for that. It’s a weird thing.”
*Taskmaster’s New Year Treat airs January 2 at 9pm on Channel 4.
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