Zoe Ball and Fatboy Slim 'to split'

The couple are "working" out their differences

Radio presenter Zoe Ball and DJ husband Norman Cook are to separate four years after they married.

Ball, 32, and Cook, 39, are said to be effectively living apart.

But Ball has denied tabloid reports their marital problems have been caused by her husband "partying hard" while she stayed at home to look after their two-year-old son.

And the former Radio 1 presenter insisted it had nothing to do with her missing the celebrity lifestyle.

The couple wed in 1999

Ball described the separation as "amicable", saying the problems were "just the usual reasons that anyone goes through".

She has been staying at their north London home with their son while working at the radio station Xfm.

Her husband - who preforms and releases records under the name Fatboy Slim - has been staying at their Sussex home while working on a new album.

'Breathing space'

Ball's agent Vivienne Clore earlier confirmed the couple were separating to give themselves "a bit of time and breathing space".

Newspapers on Saturday reported that Ball was fed up with looking after the baby while her husband threw himself into the celebrity circuit.

But speaking from the couple's home in Hove, Sussex, the presenter said: "There's really nothing to say apart from the fact that the reasons are not because my husband has been partying hard, not looking after the baby.

"That's not the reason, that's not the reason at all as one paper wrote today.

"And that it's nothing to do with me missing the limelight or the lifestyle I used to have while I worked in television."

She did not comment on whether they would be going to marriage counselling, but said both of them were "fine".

'Bit of a wobble'

Her agent Ms Clore, said: "Zoe and Norman should be treated like any other couple and be left to sort out any problems.

"They don't actively seek celebrity lifestyles.

Another friend of the couple, Emma Coquet, told the Mirror: "They are having a bit of a wobble at the moment."

Ms Coquet, also Ball's personal assistant, said living apart had been difficult for the couple but revealed they were spending the weekend at their £2m home in Hove to try and "work things out".

The couple were also devastated by the death of a friend from cancer over Christmas.

Zoe Ball rose to fame after landing a job as presenter of BBC children's show Live & Kicking and then as presenter for BBC Radio 1's Breakfast Show, but later gave up the job to concentrate on raising a family.