Zoe Ball’s fans are moved to tears watching her recall final moments with boyfriend Billy Yates before he took his own life
ZOE Ball’s fans have been left heartbroken after watching her open up about the final time she saw her late boyfriend Billy Yates alive.
The TV presenter, 47, broke down in tears as she opened up about the last time she had seen the cameraman – who suffered from depression – during the Sport Relief documentary Zoe Ball’s Hardest Way Home.
During the hour long show, Zoe she wished she had told Billy just how much she cared about him.
Fans rushed to show her their support during the programme which was broadcast tonight on BBC One.
Zoe was seen cycling over 300 miles from Blackpool to Brighton to raise money for charity.
They sent “massive hugs” to her on Twitter and told her she was “such an inspiration”.
Radio 2 DJ Zoe said of their final moments together: “It was just that moment and that feeling of ‘Oh my god I love him so much, we’ll find some help and it will all be okay’.
“And I wish I’d told him that.”
Zoe made the comments as she cycled between her birthplace in Blackpool and hometown of Brighton in just five days.
She has raised more than £500,000 for Sport Relief by completing the challenge.
Zoe revealed she wanted to do something to celebrate her Billy’s memory following his suicide almost a year ago.
Before the trip she visited a number of mental health organisations to try and understand why suicide is the biggest killer of men in the UK under 45 and how patients are being supported.
In a recent piece for The Daily Mirror, Zoe said she hoped to “give people living with mental illness a way to find some hope – and begin those vital conversations that can ultimately be life-saving.”
She revealed: “So many people as the week went on, either in person or on social media, spoke to me about their own -experiences.
“There was even a note left on the windscreen of the support vehicle overnight from a woman who’d also lost someone close to her.
“I had taken on the challenge because I felt compelled to do something positive in my boyfriend’s memory after he died last year following a long struggle with depression.”
The star added that meeting sufferers and support workers left her feeling “personally stronger and with a clearer sense of practical help that really can make a difference to people struggling with depression, anxiety, bereavement or even considering the most final action of ending their life”.
Zoe and Billy began dating following her split with DJ Norman Cook, and the couple were first pictured together in February 2017.
In May, Billy, who was 40 at the time, was discovered by a friend at his London home having hung himself.
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