Just a few months ago, I had no idea who Cheryl Cole was, but apparently, she’s a really big deal in England. She’s one of the judges on The X-Factor, but don’t be fooled into thinking she’s “Britain’s Paula Abdul”. She’s not. She’s like Paula, Kelly Ripa and Jennifer Aniston rolled into one dimpled brunette. She’s pretty but accessible, judgy but not too judgy, sexy but still a girl’s girl. Anyway, I still didn’t really know that much about her, but I’ve been vaguely following the scandal surrounding her for the past few months. Following her husband, more precisely. She’s married to British soccer player Ashley Cole, and there’s been a series of revelations about Ashley that make him sound like the English Tiger Woods. As in, he’s been screwing around. A lot. With lots of women. So Cheryl just announced today that she and Ashley are splitting. Good for her:

Cheryl Cole has announced that she is to separate from her cheating husband Ashley Cole. The X Factor star, who has been left devastated by the Chelsea football star’s string of betrayals, has called time on her three-and-a-half-year marriage.

The 26-year-old this afternoon released a statement which read: ‘Cheryl Cole is separating from her husband Ashley Cole. Cheryl asks the media to respect her privacy during this difficult time. We have no further comment to make.’

The Daily Mail first broke the news of their impending split last week.

Mrs Cole had spent the past week in Los Angeles and flew into Heathrow Airport this morning. The star wore large black sunglasses and a trilby hat as she was ushered through the airport by two police officers. Tellingly, she was not wearing her wedding ring.

The singer’s silver Mercedes arrived home at 12.18pm, while just hours before, crocked Chelsea and England player Ashley left the mansion in a black Mercedes, with his crutches clearly on display – while he was believed to be hiding in the back seat.

Another source revealed: ‘Cheryl now just wants to move on. She’s had enough.’

Before returning to the UK, Mrs Cole viewed a number of properties in Los Angeles.
These included a stunning Spanish-style five-bedroomed, six-bathroomed villa in the Hollywood Hills, which is on the market at £2.1 million. It has its own 800-bottle temperature-controlled wine cellar, outdoor barbecue and kitchen plus a stunning swimming pool and lies above the legendary Hollywood Bowl concert venue.

The star also visited a house in Beverly Hills but rejected that because she, ironically, believed it was too much like a ‘footballer’s wives’ home.’

Meanwhile, her close friend and confidante Derek Hough has told a friend he is eager for Mrs Cole to move to the US as he revealed she is ‘wonderful.’

Mr Hough, 24, was first introduced to Mrs Cole last October. He then appeared on her one-off TV special at Christmas and also appears in the video for her forthcoming single Parachute, which is released next month.

He told the friend: ‘Cheryl is wonderful, simply wonderful. It’s terrible what she’s been going through. I hope she moves out here. That would be great.’

He also revealed that Mrs Cole would be coming back to support him during the new series of Dancing With The Stars, in which he is one of the main dancers.

He continued to the friend: ‘She’s certainly making time to come back and support me in the series.’

During their seven-and-a-half hours together at the London hotel in West Hollywood on Sunday night the pair also took pictures of Mrs Cole and Mr Hough’s dog on his mobile telephone.

Just weeks ago, the singer was planning to start a family with Cole and quit the X Factor.

However, now Mrs Cole is even considering moving to the U.S. following the breakdown of her marriage, which will work well with an offer from Simon Cowell to be a judge on his planned American X Factor next year, the Daily Mail has learned.

PR guru Max Clifford tonight told Skyy News that Cheryl’s decision to split with Cole would have been a ‘career and business decision’ as well as a personal one.

Clifford, who is representing two of the women alleged to have had an affair with the footballer, told Sky News: ‘When you are a star everything you do, private and public, has an affect on your career. Cheryl is only doing this for one reason, because of what’s gone on. But when you’ve got two big stars then everything is played out in the public and obviously the public will have their very strong feelings and I’m sure that would have also played a part in her decision.’

He added, career wise, Chelsea and England fans will still ‘love Ashley Cole’ so long as he manages to perform well on the pitch once he recovers from his ankle injury and gets back on the pitch.

Clifford also said he has heard other rumours in recent weeks about other Premiership footballers having affairs, with the John Terry scandal promoting more and more women to come out of the woodwork. He predicted more revelations in the weeks to come. Ashley was first exposed for cheating on his wife in 2008 with hairdresser Aimee Walton.
Earlier this month, it was revealed explicit pictures of him were sent from his phone to Page Three girl Sonia Wild. And last week, Mrs Cole was left devastated when allegations emerged claiming he had slept with Vicki Gough, a 30-year-old secretary at Liverpool FC.

One of Cole’s alleged one-night stands – the fourth to come forward – then claimed he had sobbed down the phone to her that he would die if he lost his wife over their fling. He is said to have pleaded with U.S. political aide Ann Corbitt to keep quiet about twice having unprotected sex with her in a Seattle hotel last July when Chelsea was on a pre-season tour. A fifth alleged flame, Alexandra Taylor, also came forward to say she had sex with Cole on the night he ‘went public’ with Cheryl in 2004.

Meanwhile, it has also emerged Cole faces a battle for his future at Chelsea Football Club in the light of the scandal. He faces a suspension or ‘meaningful’ fine from Chelsea after claims he hoodwinked the club into covering up his philandering. Cole is due to be brought before Chelsea’s board as early as Friday to explain himself. The club decided to act because the defender’s alleged affair occurred while he was ‘on duty’ during a tour.

[From The Daily Mail]

The Mail also has photos of all of Ashley’s mistresses, and they’re pretty much what you would expect. A lot of them could pass for Tiger’s girls. CB and I both thought that this Derek Hough guy was gay, but maybe he’s not. If he’s straight, I still think Cheryl could do much better. I seem to remember reading that Ed Westwick had a crush on her. He’s good and smarmy, and that seems to be her type!

File photos of Ashley and Cheryl Cole over the years, courtesy of WENN.