Many a parent has found themselves baffled during one of those awkward chats with a teenage son or daughter.
Now Zoe Ball’s 18-year-old son Woody reveals that he flummoxed his mother when he revealed to her that he was bisexual.
Woody says his mother — who this month took over from Chris Evans as host of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show — was confused about his sexuality and initially told him he was straight.
The student, whose father is Norman Cook, aka DJ Fatboy Slim, revealed he had liked both boys and girls for three years.
Zoe Ball’s 18-year-old son Woody reveals that he flummoxed his mother when he revealed to her that he was bisexual
‘I told my mum and her first reaction was, “You can’t be, you like girls,” ’ he told Boys By Girls magazine. ‘I got her to look back upon her group of friends and she started to realise she knew more bi people than she thought. I think it was a bigger thing in her time.
‘Some people assume it’s an in-between before you are gay. But really, it’s a thing on its own.’ Woody, who grew up in his parents’ beachfront home in Brighton, believes a lot of gay and straight people in his parents’ generation are probably bisexual, but haven’t ever realised.
He added: ‘None of my grandparents know, and they might be finding out after this interview.
‘It’s something I’ve known for three years. I always felt, growing up, that I had all these thoughts and I just shook it off.’
The teenager, pictured above with his mum, said that while his friends have been really supportive, he did ‘get a bit of s***’ at school for a while. He now attends a sixth form college near his home where there is a large LGBTQ community and is signed up to modelling agency PRM.
He said he hasn’t yet been out with a boy and that he is currently ‘more attracted’ to girls.
On why he is attracted to both sexes, he said: ‘The dynamic is really different with the two of them. Guys are much more straightforward with everything, but I prefer the dynamic with girls. Boys are more open to hanging out together and getting to know each other.’
Ball, 48, and her husband married in 1999 but separated in 2016 and are now divorced.
Granny would be proud: Baby joy for Tessa’s boy
Ella Woodward, 27, pictured beaming with pride next to hubby Matthew Mills, 35, who is showing off a scan of their unborn child
Just eight months after the tragic death of former Labour minister Tessa Jowell, her son Matthew is celebrating happy news. He and his food entrepreneur wife are expecting their first baby.
Ella Woodward, 27, of Deliciously Ella fame, is pictured here beaming with pride next to hubby Matthew Mills, 35, who is showing off a scan of their unborn child.
‘Baby Mills coming in August,’ says Ella. ‘We’re completely over the moon and just feel like the luckiest people in the world.’ Matthew and Ella, owners of London deli Mae, married three years ago on the Caribbean island of Mustique after being introduced by Ella’s father, ex-politician Shaun Woodward.
Described as a turncoat, Woodward is a former Labour MP who began his political career on the Tory benches. Woodward has four children with his former wife, Sainsbury’s heiress Camilla.
Their 28-year marriage ended in 2015 after he was said to have forged a close relationship with the grandson of Sir Michael Redgrave.
The huge crowds who clamoured to see beauty blogger James Charles on a visit to Birmingham last weekend appear to have inspired the teenage daughter of underwear tycoon Michelle Mone. Bethany Mone, 18, has set up her own YouTube channel, where she posts videos of her doing her make-up. ‘Proud of my wee girl Bethany,’ gushes her mother, Baroness Mone of Mayfair. ‘Love it that social media can help our young generation follow their dreams.’
Floyd star sells guitar collection
A 1969 Fender Stratocaster played by David Gilmour is expected to sell for more than £100,000 when the Pink Floyd axe-wrangler auctions his extensive instrument collection at Christie’s.
‘These guitars have been very good to me. They have paid for themselves many times over, but it’s now time that they moved on,’ laments the musician, who will donate the proceeds to charity.
The sale of around 120 instruments in New York this June will free up space on the Astoria, Gilmour’s houseboat studio moored on the Thames at Hampton. But the rocker is already regretting his decision to part with his beloved guitars.
‘It will be a wrench to see them go and perhaps one day I’ll have to track one or two of them down and buy them back!’
Model Daisy enjoys a very starry 30th
Model and socialite Daisy Lowe once admitted she felt so insecure about her physique she was unable to get out of bed.
Happily, the daughter of textile designer Pearl Lowe and rock star Gavin Rossdale rose to the challenge for her 30th birthday at The Pig Hotel in Devon twinning her low-cut black dress with an ornate silver star headpiece.
Pixie Geldof was among Daisy’s friends who posted her birthday wishes online.
She wrote: ‘You’re 30 and more full of love, kindness and beauty than ever before.’
Model and socialite Daisy Lowe once admitted she felt so insecure about her physique she was unable to get out of bed
Fancy working out how much tax the royals should pay? The Royal Household is advertising for an accountant. ‘You’ll produce management information and financial accounts for a number of entities including retail, charitable bodies and private accounts,’ states the advertisement on the royal website. The successful candidate will be paid around £40,000 per year.
Good news for Michael Gove — his favourite hip-hop group Public Enemy is joining forces with Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul for a Gods Of Rap UK tour.
Chris Wareing, the music promoter who secured the alliance, says: ‘If you think the Brexit negotiations look like hard work, trust me when I say that getting three of the biggest rap groups of all time on the same bill was challenging — Wu-Tang Clan alone have nine different managers.’ That’s more than even the European Research Group.
Jenny Agutter has spoken of her sadness that she only became a mother once and was not able to have more children.
The Call The Midwife star, 66, was pregnant with her only child Jonathan, now 28, when she married Swedish hotelier Johan Tham in 1990 after a whirlwind romance.
Alas the couple did not manage to add to their family. ‘We intended to have more than one child, but that’s just the way it turned out,’ she says. ‘I got pregnant in a flash but never became pregnant again.’
Prince Philip’s secret lucky spoon
Psychic spoon-bender Uri Geller has a royal fan — Prince Philip.
The 72-year-old illusionist tells me how he presented the Duke with a spoon from a Concorde flight some years ago and bent it before his eyes.
‘He was delighted and gave me one of his spoons in exchange,’ Uri, who moved back to his homeland, Israel, three years ago, recalls.
‘I’ve been told he takes the one I bent with him wherever he goes as a good luck keepsake, popping it in his jacket pocket when he remembers.
‘I just hope he didn’t have it with him when he had his car accident.’
Nicky Haslam says that more men should have facelifts. ‘I had a full facelift in 1999 and I haven’t had anything done since,’ the 79-year-old interior designer told me at the Oldie awards. ‘All men should have it done as it will change their life. Vanity is when you think you’re perfect. Not vain is when you want to change it because you don’t think you look good. A lot of people say, “I wouldn’t dream of having anything done” — they’re the ones that think they’re perfect.’
Drag queen puts Duchess in the shade
The Duchess of York was upstaged by Germany’s most famous drag queen yesterday.
The 6 ft 5 in cross-dresser Olivia Jones, real name Oliver Knobel, rubbed shoulders with Sarah Ferguson, 59, at a dinner in Cologne hosted by biscuit king Hermann Buehlbecker, boss of baker Lambertz.
Despite having a leg shortening operation two years ago to reduce her height by a couple of inches, Olivia still towers above Fergie — and out-gingers her with her orange and red hair.
The Duchess of York was upstaged by Germany’s most famous drag queen yesterday