Zoe Balls chaos at home as she and kids struggle | UK News

Presenter Zoe Ball has revealed her and her kids have both been recognized with the same condition – and it is brought on “chaos” at home. Speaking with pal Jo Whiley on their Dig It podcast, Zoe said that her lodger had been a catalyst for “calm and order” in their home.

“I always wang on about having ADHD,” she said, including that it was only after her teenage daughter Nell was recognized with the neurodevelopmental condition that Zoe herself realised she may also be among the roughly 5% of people residing with ADHD.

Zoe said that Nell, who she shares with her celebrity DJ ex-husband Norman Cook, had been prescribed with medication to help keep the condition under control. “It’s really helped her to focus,” she said.

“But it’s been learning about their situation and how they deal with things that I’ve learned about my own [ADHD] and the carnage and the mess.”

Zoe – who has been hotly tipped to be one of the new Strictly Come Dancing presenters – went on to say that it’s only when issues attain a disaster level that she buckles down to tidy he home up. She explained: “I can be like a whirlwind, but what I do need is a bit of order. And sometimes things can get really messy and then you get to the point of I’ve got to sort this out. And when you’ve got ADHD, you’re so easily distracted.”

She revealed that her 25-year-old son Woody also has ADHD, which may lead to the three of them having fairly a chaotic home life. Zoe went on: “There’s three ADHD-ers … three fairly gregarious people… and then there’s the lodger who’s fairly ordered and very regimented. That’s the way in which he survives and he will get through his stuff.

“He’s bought a bit of calm and order into this house of chaos. Which I never realised would be so appreciated. I’m like ‘Thank you. Thank you for bringing calm and and order into a house of chaos because it makes such a difference’.”

But despite finding help for Woody and Nell, and appreciating the additional stability that their lodger brings, Zoe admitted that she still struggles from time to time. She continued: “It can be really tough… I think if you have ADHD you take things so personally and so to heart and those extremes of emotions can be quite hard to handle sometimes.”

She added that her notorious party reputation during the 1990s had probably been driven by her undiagnosed ADHD. She recalled: “I’d never let anybody go away the celebration. This might be why I partied most likely for 10 years too long. and I just hated the celebration being over and I hated everyone leaving. And then I’d see Woody. Woody would cry when people left to go home, even when he was little.”

She added that her daughter could be very vibrant, but being so strong-willed makes her exhausting to handle sometimes: “I love my daughter so much, she’s amazing. She’s sassy as hell and I know she’s going to be okay out there in the big wide world, because she’s strong-willed and she’s tough.

“But, oh lordy, there is no telling her! I think her brother was the same when he was young. As a mum, you have to work out different ways of approaching things.”