Johnny Ball has revealed he has cancer, just a year after his ex-wife, and mother of his daughter Zoe Ball, died of the disease
Johnny Ball has revealed the sad news he has been secretly battling cancer. The 87-year-old TV legend’s devastating news comes just a year after the death of his ex-wife, Julia.
Johnny supported the pair’s daughter, BBC radio presenter Zoe Ball during the heartbreaking moments. Zoe, 54, had revealed at the time how her mum died just 12 weeks after she was diagnosed with cancer.
And now, Johnny has revealed he was facing his own battle. Johnny, who starred on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, was on hand to support his famous daughter amid her own struggles as well as helping her deal with her mum’s passing.
The 87-year-old, who burst on to TV screens presenting Play School in 1967, tells The Mirror: “I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in August 2022 and, thankfully, after three months of daily radiation treatment, starting in the September, I’m through it, I’m fine.”
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In May last year she posted a number of family photos as she told her followers that her mother’s funeral had been a tough but “perfect” day. She wrote on Instagram: “Yesterday we said goodbye to our dear Mama, Granny J.
“It was the perfect day and she would have loved it, forever in our hearts Mama, thank you for your magic & love. Missing you so much but holding tight to each other.”
As well as helping support his daughter through her mum’s diagnosis and death, he was also on hand to offer support after the the tragic loss of her boyfriend, Billy Yates, who died by suicide aged 40 in 2017.
Talking frankly about their family’s effort to keep her spirits high at the time, Johnny shared: “If she was next door we would pop round and say: ‘Are you OK? ‘ but we’re 60 miles away.
“So we text asking: ‘Are you OK? Keep your pecker up. Come on, be strong.'” He went on to highlight how work played a key role in helping Zoe navigate her bereavement.
“She coped terribly and we lost her because she was totally besotted by it,” he later added.
“She was clubbing all the time and drinking too much. She became a ladette, saying anything the boys could do, girls could do.”
But he also confirmed: “We’ve never fallen out, but there are periods you know you’re not in the equation when it comes to discussion.”
In 2020, three years after Billy’s death, Zoe labelled it the “hardest thing in my life”. She vowed to remember the 40-year-old cameraman for the huge impact he had on her life and the love and laughs they shared and said: “He’d lived with depression for a huge chunk of his life.
“It’s so hard to sit and watch someone you love and care for struggle with mental health. Losing him was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life.”
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