Cheryl Cole Turns To Simon Cowell For Advice

Cheryl Cole

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Cheryl Cole has turned to Simon Cowell for advice following her split from husband Ashley.

The Girls Aloud singer announced she was separating from the soccer player on Tuesday, after a string of women claimed to have slept with him. She is said to be struggling to come to terms with the end of her three-and-a-half year marriage, and has started calling Simon for support.

The pair work together on UK singing contest The X Factor, and are close friends. Simon has vowed to do anything he can to help Cheryl, and is adamant she has made the right decision about her marriage.

“He told her, ‘It’s time to think of yourself kiddo. He’s had enough chances.’ Simon has been having very fatherly chats with her. He feels Cheryl is his protégé since he put her on The X Factor,” a source explained to British newspaper The Sunday Mirror. “He loves her to bits and is very protective of her.

“He has told her he is on the end of the phone whenever she needs to speak, day or night, and it is Simon who is backing Cheryl's decision to leave Ashley all the way. She had been wobbling over her decision but stuck to her guns when Simon told her, ‘You need to get out of this situation. You need to think of yourself.’ ”

Cheryl released a statement saying she was separating from Ashley on Tuesday, but is yet to announce whether she is planning to divorce him. It has been claimed she has started researching lawyers in case she decides to make the split permanent, although she will not ask for a share of the sportsman’s £14 million fortune.

The 26-year-old is said to be considering moving out of the Surrey mansion she lived in with Ashley, and buying a home in North London instead. She lived in the area when she first joined Girls Aloud, and the plan would see her living close to her bandmates Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding. Nadine Coyle is also believed to have a base in the area, when she is not spending time in her American home.

Cheryl is also reportedly considering buying a Los Angeles property, in the hope it will help her launch her career Stateside.

The singer has apparently been in contact with Ashley throughout the last week, with the pair discussing how he will collect his belongings from their home. The soccer player moved out shortly before Tuesday’s statement, and is currently in France receiving treatment for his broken ankle.

Cheryl has agreed he can return home briefly, but has apparently told him he cannot say overnight. “Cheryl has had a lot of contact with Ashley,” a source told British newspaper the News of the World. “They’re discussing what’s going to happen when he gets back. She isn’t ruling out meeting him face-to-face – it’s likely he’ll have to come back to collect his stuff, but she’s made it clear he won’t be staying the night.”

Cheryl was seen out for the first time on Friday night, when she went to see Lady Gaga perform in London. She smiled and waved to fans, but also looked pale and drawn.

Cheryl met Ashley in 2004 and the pair went on to marry in a lavish ceremony two years later.

In 2008, Ashley was accused of sleeping with a hairdresser after a drunken night out. Cheryl removed her wedding band during the scandal, and didn’t wear it again for eight months.