She is the original ladette; the hard-partying DJ who presented her Radio 1 Breakfast Show high as a kite, the not-so-blushing bride who set off on her wedding morning clutching a bottle of Jack Daniel's.
But these days, Zoë Ball leads a quieter life. Ensconced with her husband DJ Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) and their son Woody, nine, and new daughter Nelly, six months, in Brighton, Zoë has swapped partying for Power Plates and boozing for baking.
She celebrates her 40th birthday in November, but says she feels years younger. And she's not afraid of a midlife crisis. Why? Because she's had hers already: "I got my midlife crisis out of the way in my early 30s to be honest. I went crackers and left, as everyone knows!"
Zoë is, of course, referring to her fling with DJ Dan Peppe seven years ago, which left Norman, now 46, devastated. She moved back to London and carried on seeing Dan, one year her junior. Woody was just two and, for a time, it looked as though history would repeat itself. Her mother Julia walked out on Zoë's father - children's TV presenter Johnny Ball, 72 - when Zoë was two. She was only reconciled with Julia at the age of 17.
But fortunately things turned out differently for Zoë and Norman. After much soul-searching, the pair realised they did want to make their marriage work. And just weeks after they split, Zoë moved back home.
There have been ups and downs: in 2008 Zoë reportedly flew back from a family holiday in Sardinia after discovering a text from a woman on her husband's phone, and Norman went into rehab in March 2009 to be treated for alcohol addiction.
But the pair celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last August with a blessing in Ibiza, the island where they met in 1998. "We always say: 'It's 10 years with a little bit of time off for bad behaviour'," she jokes. "But we feel you get extra points if you survive that. I think all marriages go through bad times, whether it's illness or financial problems or infidelities.
"I was reading this thing the other day saying intelligent people don't cheat, and I beg to differ. I know very intelligent people who've cheated. We've been through tricky moments, but I feel now it would take something mammoth to rock our marriage. She'd have to be pretty darn amazing... I'd kill him!"
Zoë, who now presents a weekend breakfast show on Radio 2, says what she thinks, which sometimes gets her into trouble. Recently she confessed she was often still high from the night before while presenting the Radio 1 Breakfast Show during the height of her fame in the '90s, and that bosses worried about her mental health. She admitted her problems with alcohol led her to ditch booze in January 2009.
Today, Zoë says she no longer takes her marriage for granted or assumes it will last forever. "We really put each other through the mill but we've come out the other side of it and we've got two lovely kids. We're both sober and really, really happy. But you don't know what's going to happen. I might go bonkers as I get closer to 40 and go on some crazy rampage; he might fall in love with a teacher. You never know."
Zoë's new healthy lifestyle isn't the only thing that's changed. Once very slim, she now has curves in all the right places. "I look at girls like Alexa Chung now and I think: 'My God, she's just so tiny.' And then I was looking for some photos the other day and I found some of me, and I was like: 'Oh my God, I was so skinny!' There are photos where I look amazing and there are photos where I look ill - I was just skin and bone!"
While she looks much healthier these days, Zoë admits she has thought about cosmetic surgery. "I look at my face and I see my lines and I look quite tired. I'm quite crêpey - when I wake up I'm really crêpey between my boobs! Because I used to smoke, I've got bad lines above my lips. So I do look at my face and think: 'Ooh, what am I going to do? Am I going to do something? Am I going to leave it?' I think the best thing I can do is just stay indoors!"
It's no wonder Zoë looks tired. After years struggling to conceive again - she suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome - and coming to terms with the fact that it wasn't going to happen, last year she found she was pregnant with baby Nelly. It was a month after Norman had given up drinking in rehab.
I used to be just skin and bone
"It was a lovely surprise," says Zoë. "We'd just got to the point where we'd agreed we weren't going to go any further down the route of IVF, we were happy with just the three of us. We told our friends: 'We've decided we're not going to think about adoption.' I was getting really fit - I was getting into Power Plates and then suddenly bang! I was like: 'Norm, you're not going to believe what's happened.' I went into a little bit of shock actually because I was like, this wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't part of the plan!"
She says Nelly has arrived into a calmer environment than her big brother. "When Woody was born our house was like a scene from a bad '60s film. Now he says: 'I miss those mornings I used to come downstairs and everyone was in fancy dress and wandering round the house.' Hopefully he's not too damaged by it all," she laughs. "Nelly's been born into a very calm, family-centred, peaceful environment. I think it is reflected in her behaviour as she's so chilled out. We feel so blessed - she's our gift of sobriety. I love her very much."
As the big 4-0 approaches, does she have any major regrets? "I think I might advise myself slightly better about my career. I might tell myself not to give up the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. Who says: 'Actually I've just had enough of the Breakfast Show, I don't want to do it any more?!'"
But Zoë is happier looking forward than back. She says she just needs to look at her mum to realise life doesn't end at 40. "She's 60, gorgeous and has so much fun. The last 20 years of her life have pretty much been her best. She met her lovely husband. She's just so happy and full of life, and I look at her and think: 'My God, if I can be anything like that in another 20 years' time, we'll be home and dry.'"
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