Club DJ Dan Peppe has denied his relationship with Zoe Ball is the reason behind the presenter's break-up with musician Norman Cook.

Ball confirmed on Tuesday she split from Cook, who records and produces under the name Fatboy Slim, in December, and then started a relationship with Peppe.

"We were there as friends and it has developed and now we are closer than just friends," Peppe told The Sun newspaper.

"I knew there were problems in the marriage and I helped her, but I wouldn't say I was the cause of those problems," he said.

Ball, 32, married Cook in 1999. The couple have a two-year-old son, Woody.

Norman Cook cut down touring commitments when Woody was born

She said on Tuesday she was in a relationship with Peppe and asked for "time and space" and to be treated "graciously" by the press.

Ball has taken a two-week break from her role as a DJ on London-based rock station Xfm.

She has been living in north London while Cook, 36, stays at the couple's beachfront house near Hove, Sussex.

The announcement the couple had split came as a shock to many commentators.

Their marriage was thought to be very stable.

Cook, who had toured incessantly before marriage, had cut down his live commitments since Woody's birth to spend more time with his family.