SHE was known for late-night partying with showbiz pals during her ladette days and Sara Cox admits that behind doors she was full of energy too.
The DJ says “no surface was safe” when she was at home with her advertising executive husband Ben Cyzer, who she has been with for two decades.
But flash forward to today and the 50-year-old mum of three says that “every surface is safe” and they often sleep in separate rooms because she can’t stand his snoring.
Sara said: “When I sometimes get on my little stool in the kitchen to reach for some Tupperware, I do think, ‘Oh, look, my fun area is really parallel with his face right at the moment’.
“But as the kids get older, you just can’t be doing that — they’d never get past it.
“I mean, when you’re in your early 30s and stuff, no surface is safe in the kitchen or the bathroom, is it? But now pretty much everywhere is safe.”
Sara, who has just completed the equivalent of five marathons in five days to raise an astonishing £10million for Children In Need, opened up about their sleeping habits at home in North London.
Just days before the epic fundraiser, she told The Teen Commandments Podcast: “This is my issue that I’ve got with Ben in the night.
“Just general breathing — just him breathing is annoying. Not during the day, I have to point that out. I just mean any slight noises.
“You know on a wildlife documentary where they have a shot of an animal that’s on high alert for a predator? I think I’ve got that kind of feeling in the middle of the night.
“Like, if I just hear the tiniest sound, it’s so magnified in the middle of the night — I think there’s a bit of anxiety in there.
“Because I remember in my 20s, if I woke up at 1.30am — well, I probably wouldn’t be in bed at half one — but if I woke in the middle of the night and it was like 3am in my 20s, I’d be, like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got loads of time to sleep, amazing’.
“And now I’m 50, I just go, ‘F**k, it’s three, I’m not going to sleep’. I nudge him and he’s really patient — he’s great about it. But we keep sleeping in separate rooms, which is a bit depressing.”
Bolton-born Sara doubtless needs plenty of rest after running a total of 135 miles from Kielder Forest in Northumberland to Pudsey in Leeds earlier this month — carrying the annual Beeb telethon’s mascot Pudsey Bear on her back.
During her Great Northern Marathon Challenge, the star was sent a message of encouragement by Prince William, who said: “Keep going — you’ve done fantastically well and the nation’s so proud of you.”
Sara says she was inspired to raise money for vulnerable kids after recalling the bullying she suffered at school from “two girls who made my life hell”.
This week she revealed she battled through the challenge by listening to tracks by rapper Stormzy and said it was a lot tougher than she ever expected.
Behind-the-scenes footage shown on Sara Cox: Every Step Of The Way For Children In Need, on BBC One on Wednesday, revealed the heartbreaking reason she decided to take on the challenge.
And now I’m 50, I just go, ‘F**k, it’s three, I’m not going to sleep’
Sara said: “My brother David died suddenly in 2019 and it completely destroyed the family — like, it came out of nowhere and he was a real athlete who ran countless Ironman competitions.
“I don’t think he’d believe I’m doing this, I think he’d be super-proud. I’m hoping that I’ve just got a bit of strength from him today.”
Sara’s children are now nearly the age she was when she found fame. Her eldest, Lola — from her first marriage — is 21, while Isaac and Renee are 17 and 15 respectively.
Sara had been working as a model when, at the age of 22 she landed her first TV job hosting The Girlie Show on Channel 4.
Two years later she became a presenter on The Big Breakfast and a year on, in 1999, it was announced she would take over the Radio 1 Breakfast show.
Known as “Coxy” back then, she worked — and partied — hard. Her pals included fellow broadcaster Zoe Ball, model Gail Porter, actress Donna Air and TV host Jayne Middlemiss.
They became notorious for their wild nights and were dubbed ladettes — a term Sara has always hated, saying it suggested they were “just trying to be like the boys . . . and we were never trying to be like the boys”.
Her lifestyle changed dramatically when she became mum to Lola in 2004, a year before she separated from her first husband DJ Jon Carter, who she had married in 2001.
Sara began dating Ben, now 50, in 2005 and they married in 2013 a year after she signalled another shift by quitting BBC Radio 1 to host the breakfast show on its more mature sister station, Radio 2. ‘Mind-boggling behaviour’.
She has admitted: “Yes, I used to drink loads. I thought nothing of having wine with lunch then going to the pub later, but they were different times. It all stops when you have children, to be replaced with other things that are just as pleasurable.
“The first ten years of my career I was out a lot more and the second decade I was explaining my behaviour in the first decade and apologising for it.”
And she said she never felt pressure to bring back her “Coxy” alter ego, because she had “buried her with some vodka and Marlboro Lights”.
The first ten years of my career I was out a lot more and the second decade I was explaining my behaviour in the first decade and apologising for it
Now her work has changed too. The BBC Radio 2 presenter has been hosting the station’s Drivetime show since January 2019 and next up is a new BBC One series, starting on December 1, about professional model-makers, called The Marvellous Miniatures Workshop.
When she’s not on the TV or the radio, Sara is busy hosting The Teen Commandments podcast with her best friend Clare Hamilton, who she has known since they were children.
The pair launched the podcast in January, having raised five teenagers between them.
The show casts light on the “mind-boggling behaviour” of their youngsters and how they tackled it with “wisdom that only comes from being rule-breakers themselves”.
On this week’s episode, Sara revealed she has been trying to break her family’s addiction to mobile phones.
She confided: “I just feel like a st mum because I am not stopping it, and I feel completely powerless.
My brother David died suddenly in 2019. He was a real athlete. I don’t think he’d believe I’m doing this, I think
he’d be super proud
“I did suggest something, but it was immediately . . . I mean, the faces I was met with . . .
“I should have really got Ben more on side because what can happen sometimes is that I will suggest something for us to do as a family, and Ben will immediately side with the teenagers and undermine me.
“I told him that I wanted to do something where we start having more time together as a family and we put the phones away.
“So over dinner, I was like, ‘Right, this weekend, can we do it where we just have four hours without our phones or our laptops or anything?’
“Immediately, Ben piped up, ‘That’s too long’. I’m giving him daggers when the youngest pipes up that she’s got to revise. She needs her phone. Fair enough.
“But I’m really worried that we’re not living our lives together as a family, where we look at each other and where we chat and where we do things and hang out.
“So I’m just, like, ‘Whether we go out on a big dog walk or we just do something as a family, let’s put the phones away for four hours’.”
Sara is unlikely to be popping out for a stroll any time soon as she complains she cannot walk following her fundraising efforts.
But she still feels like she is in the best shape of her life, explaining on her podcast: “It’s good on this side of 50, I’ve got to say.
“I think — especially when you’re a woman — it’s always like, ‘How do you feel about turning 50? What are you going to do?’ But this age seems better than the alternative, babe.”