She's got a successful career, a wonderful family and loves her life. So why isn't Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox happy?

By Louise Gannon
Photography by Alistair Morris

Whether it’s describing an inappropriate flirt with a senior citizen, or recalling the time she spent 30 minutes fighting with a frock a size too small, Sara Cox isn’t afraid to confess all. As listeners to her radio show will testify, Coxy is missing that vital filter that stops most people from articulating every barmy thought that enters their heads.

And when it comes to tales from home, there’s no line either. Sara reveals all in her self-deprecating anecdotes about her amazing life as a food-splattered, harassed, slummy mummy to four-year-old Lola and one-year-old Isaac.

Listening to Sara, 34, you’d think life in Casa Cox couldn’t be better, but there’s one problem. She panics that her life is just too idyllic.

“I suffer from paradise syndrome,” says Sara. “Instead of enjoying what I’ve got, I sometimes worry about being too happy and think something must go wrong.

“I’m incredibly lucky,” Sara continues. “I have two beautiful kids, an amazing bloke [her advertising executive boyfriend Ben Cyzer, 32], and a job I adore.

“But I do think to myself at times: ‘My life is just too good to be true.’ I worry about jinxing things. I worry about it all falling apart. Mad isn’t it?”

It is, in fact, typical Sara, and further evidence that she just can’t help reveal what’s going on in her brain, no matter how crazy it sounds. After all, her honesty made her a star. Shooting to fame as a hard-partying television presenter and DJ, her no-holds-barred attitude perfectly matched the upfront ladette culture of the ’90s.

She drank pints, smoked fags, talked about losing her virginity in a field of sheep, woke up with hangovers from hell and was papped endlessly falling out of London’s Met Bar with her best mate Zoë Ball, 38, and their cool DJ boyfriends (who they went on to marry) Norman Cook and Jon Carter.

It was Sara and Zoë we wanted to hang out with. Every party had Sara on its guest list, the Gallagher brothers had her on speed dial, and men’s magazines fell over themselves trying to get her to pose on their covers.

But that was all, as Sara now reflects, “a lifetime ago”. These days, she’s rarely spotted at parties, hardly ever gives interviews, can’t remember the last time she had a drink, and begs Fabulous not to mention the ‘L’ (for ladette) word. She claims her wild ways are behind her, and getting dressed up for our photo shoot was “wicked” because she says: “I never get done up like this any more.”

She may love to rock out in front of the camera, but she’s a little less confident when she sits down to talk, as she no longer likes having the spotlight focused on her.

“I always think people judge me,” she says. “They expect this leery, loud, cocky, big mouth. But I’m just not like that. I’ve grown up and I take everything more seriously now.”

Back in the day, Sara didn’t take much seriously. A complete unknown, she auditioned for Channel 4’s The Girlie Show in 1996 and went from model to presenter overnight.

Within four years she was hosting the Radio 1 breakfast show, with an audience of 7.8 million. But Sara’s reign at Radio 1 wasn’t without its oh-my-God-did-she-just-say-that moments. She most notably shocked listeners by making derogatory comments about the Queen Mum.

Within two years she lost almost a million listeners, and was moved to Radio 1’s drive-time slot to be replaced by Chris Moyles. Ironically, the morning we meet, front page headlines scream about Moyles’ departure later this year.

“I’ve seen the story,” says Sara. “But I have no idea what’s going on. I’d be surprised if he went because I honestly think he’s brilliant.”

Despite her confessional style on air, Sara, who now presents a Sunday morning show on Radio 1, is not keen to spill on her private life. She refuses to discuss Lola’s father Jon, 37.

Marriage obviously left its mark and Sara has said she will never marry again. The paradise syndrome is once more at work, as she’s worried about jinxing what she has. “Ben’s the other half of my soul,” she says. “I’m glad we met when we did. If we’d met 10 years ago we might have split up by now.”

Happiness shows on her virtually wrinkle-free face – her hard-partying past hasn’t affected her looks one bit – and at 5ft 9in with a figure to die for, it’s no surprise she earned a crust as a model. Her obsession with diet from those days hasn’t left her, but she hits back at criticism that she lost too much weight after having Isaac, her first child with Ben.

“I was never too thin,” she says. “But I have to admit I have that tendency in me. When I was a model I did have food issues.

“Even now I like to be skinny,” she adds. “I love exercise classes – spinning and body pump. If I exercise I allow myself to eat more. I can’t relax if I get overweight.”

She may sound saintly with her regime, but life isn’t all nights in, nappies and naughty steps. Sara does still let rip.
“I don’t go on benders, but if I want to let my hair down Ben and I will go to a festival.

She laughs: “These days, what gets me excited is growing vegetables. I’m a farmer’s daughter and I’d love to live on a farm again.

“I have this whole Good Life dream.” Then she guffaws. “But it’s not going to happen because my man loves London and I don’t think I could ever persuade him. Well not unless I find a lovely big farm down south.”

Have your say: Do you suffer from ‘paradise syndrome’ like Sara Cox? What is the meaning of true happiness? Have you felt more confident as you’ve got older? >>

SO SARAH, HAVE YOU EVER...

We ask the questions you really want to know the answers to!

Checked the messages on a lover’s phone? I do it all the time. I’m terrible. Can’t help myself.

Googled yourself? Yes. But I only read the nice stuff. I blank out anything bad so I remain in my bubble of happiness.

Pretended to be someone else? When I was 15 and on holiday in Ibiza, I pretended I was called India Fitzgerald. I thought it sounded dead glamorous.

Feigned illness to avoid a social situation? Loads of times.

Stolen something? I nicked a pen from a bank when I was nine and felt terrible for months afterwards.

Taken something back to a shop after wearing it? No. I believe too much in karma. If I did that I’d lose my car keys or something straight away.

Secretly fancied a friend’s boyfriend? No. My best friend’s idea ?of the perfect man is Vin Diesel. Enough said.
Lied about loving a terrible gift? So many times.

Pretended to remember someone when they come over to say hello? Loads. I even do it to extended members of my own family.

Been mistaken for another celebrity? Zoë Ball loads of times, which I take as a compliment. And obviously, Jessica Alba all the time!

Pretended to cook something, when it came out of a packet?
Some cheeky M&S side dishes may have crept into dinner parties.

Lied to your boyfriend about how much something cost?
Never. I earn my own money so I don’t need to lie.

Read something about yourself and thought… I wish! That I was 32!

Kissed a girl? Not that I’d be confessing to.