Cheryl Fernandez-Versini has revealed how she ‘crumbled’ in private when news broke of ex-husband Ashley Cole’s infidelity in 2010.
In the immediate aftermath of the allegations, the 32-year-old was forced to carry on and perform her hit Fight For This Love at the BRIT Awards, in the full glare of the media spotlight.
The X Factor judge told InStyle magazine; ‘To be honest I coped in public and crumbled in private’. Despite putting on a united front and sticking by the footballer, the pair eventually split in that same year. It’s growth, it’s life. They say a good sailor would never be a good sailor if he hadn’t experienced a rough sea,’ she reflects.
The Girls Aloud singer explained how friends who had criticised her choice to stay with her cheating hubby, later changed their minds.
‘It’s funny – those who didn’t understand my actions at the time have now had that happen to them and they get it. A friend of mine told me her husband was having an affair and she said; I understand everything that must have been going through your head. But what I will never understand in how you had to face the world.’
When Cheryl and Ashley married in 2006, the pair were dubbed the new ‘Posh and Becks’, with a lavish ceremony and the notorious Lottery adverts.
Last year Cheryl revealed to The Times magazine that she struggled to get of bed in the wake of the scandal; ‘I was borderline. I was walking crazyville. I had no fire in my belly. I didn’t feel passionate any more, just a bit dead.’
In her autobiography she spoke of the moment she knew something was wrong in their marriage – when Ashley made her a cup of tea.
'He hardly ever made tea and I sensed something was off …he’d been acting weird all evening.'
The nation’s sweetheart didn’t have to wait long to confirm her gut feeling; ‘Ashley was flapping while on the phone to his agent, then my rep called her to say a paper was going to print a story about his infidelity.’
Five years on, Cheryl is now Mrs Fernandez-Versini after marrying French restaurateur Jean-Bernard in a secret ceremony on the island of Mustique.
