Birth name Cheryl Ann Tweedy

Date of birth 30 June 1983

Star sign Cancer

Birthplace Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Height 5ft 3in

Eye colour Brown

Marriages Ashley Cole, 15 July 2006

Children None

Biography

From talent show winner to global superstar, Cheryl Cole (née Tweedy) is one fifth of pop icons Girls Aloud.

Earmarked from an early age as a star of the future, Newcastle-born Cheryl won everything from children’s modelling competitions to a place at London’s Royal Ballet School.

While working as a waitress, aged 16, she auditioned for ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals and beat off thousands of hopefuls to make it into Girls Aloud, along with Sarah Harding, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts.

Despite clinching the 2002 Christmas No 1 spot with debut single Sound Of The Underground, Cheryl’s joy was short-lived. She was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant in January 2003 and was found guilty of assault.

Girls Aloud are one of the most successful pop groups of the decade, but it has been Cheryl’s non-musical antics that have made her a tabloid favourite.

Public spats with Charlotte Church, Lily Allen and Paris Hilton have clocked up the column inches, as has her relationship with footballer Ashley Cole, especially during the 2006 World Cup where she was a prominent ‘WAG’ along with Victoria Beckham.

Cheryl and Ashley enjoyed a lavish wedding – paid for by OK! magazine – in July 2006 but were dogged by reports of Ashley’s infidelity in January 2008.

Despite rumours of a permanent split, the pair are still together, while Cheryl has branched out musically by collaborating with Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am and is now a judge on The X Factor.

Quotes
‘It glorifies everything I hate: being a smackhead. Heroin is devil’s dust, it ruins lives and families and everything it touches.’ (GQ, November 2007)

‘When we’re having sex, Ashley won’t have the dogs in the room. He doesn’t want them watching.’ (Observer Music Monthly, 11 November 2007)

‘As long as your hair’s looking good and you’ve got a nice amount of make-up on... you’ve just got to throw your man on the bed and hop on! I think most men prefer to hear little breaths rather than big screams!’ (Thinkexist.com)

(On Lily Allen)
‘She gives it Billy Big B******s. Called Nicola Roberts ugly, called my husband horrendous, called Sarah Harding vile. All these things I let go because I thought, “She’s a child and I don’t play with little girls.”’ (The Sun, 10 November 2007)

‘If anybody cheated on me, they’d be dead. I’ve been cheated on in the past. I gave the blokes a few right and left hooks.’ (News of the World, 20 April 2008)

‘I’d hire a bottom double. Why not get people thinking you have the best arse in the world, if you can?’ (Bbc.co.uk, 4 January 2006)