Cheryl Ann Cole (née Tweedy; born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and member of the girl group Girls Aloud. Cole is also a judge on the British reality TV show The X Factor, since 2008. She is the wife of Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole.
She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Throughout her childhood she performed as a dancer in recitals and on some T.V. shows. She entered ballroom competitions, sang, modelled a little, and won a ballet competition.
She won the following competitions as a child: Boots bonniest baby, Mothercare Happy Faces Portrait competition, Best Looking Girl of Newcastle, The Evening Chronicle 'Little Miss & Mister' and Most Attractive Girl at the MetroCentre.
She appeared in two British Gas adverts, an SCS advert, and an Eldon Square Christmas advert with younger brother Garry. In addition to Garry, Cole has another two brothers, Andrew and Joseph, and a sister, Gillian.
Cole was also signed to a management, Aim Development, based in CVC Studios Clara Vale near Newcastle before Girls Aloud alongside other acts such as 3NM and Xscape, and performed on stage at the Metro Centre's Metro Land.
Cole was working in a restaurant as a waitress before going on the reality television show, "Popstars: The Rivals".
During the Passions of Girls Aloud series, Cheryl auditioned as a street dancer to gain a part in the music video for will.i.am's single Heartbreaker. Cheryl won the part and was later asked to sing vocals on the track. The song was released physically in the UK on 5 May 2008, but had already entered the top ten on download sales and peaked at number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.
On June 10, 2008, it was announced that Cole would be replacing Sharon Osbourne as a judge on The X Factor, starting with the fifth series in 2008. She joins current judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and her former manager Louis Walsh on the reality TV show panel. Cole toured the country in June/July 2008 along with the camera crew and fellow judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh.
On 11 January 2003 Cole (then Tweedy) was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, in the Drink (now Harpers) nightclub in Guildford. Tweedy was subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault (she had allegedly called Amogbokpa a "Jigaboo" among other racial slurs) and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. During her trial Tweedy claimed she acted in self defense (claiming she had been punched first) and denied using racially abusive language.
The jury found her guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but cleared her of racially aggravated assault. The judge sentenced her to 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3000 prosecution costs.
In July 2006 Cole signed a deal worth a reported £200,000 to become the face of Coca-Cola Zero for its UK launch.
During a recording at Top of the Pops, Mike Skinner of The Streets dedicated his song "When You Wasn't Famous" to Cole, leading to much media speculation and many believing the song was about her. Skinner later corrected everyone by saying that he only dedicated the song to her because Girls Aloud were at the same taping of TOTP.
Lily Allen has a song about her called "Cheryl Tweedy", which is exclusively available as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of her 2006 CD "Alright, Still".
Cole co-presented the August 25, 2006 episode of The Friday Night Project along with Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding, where she did impressions of Sharon Osbourne and Big Brother 7 winner Pete Bennett.
Cole appeared on Comic Relief Does The Apprentice in 2007 to raise money for Comic Relief.
Cole is a strict Vegetarian and was criticised by Gordon Ramsay on his show The F-Word when she asked for a vegetarian meal saying "Didn't you get the message? Vegetarians aren't welcome here."
Cole was also featured in will.i.am's new music video for the single Heartbreaker and sings backing vocals on the track
Even before marrying Ashley, she won the title of "Sexiest Footballer's Wife" in FHM's 2006 Bloke Awards, and as Cole's fiancée she was a prominent "WAG" in Germany during the 2006 World Cup.
She married Ashley Cole at Wrotham Park, Hertsmere, Hertfordshire on 15 July 2006. When the two changed their plans, Tweedy and Cole had asked the staff there to lie to the press and not to disclose the fact they weren't actually getting married there. Cole had a dress designed by Roberto Cavalli, reportedly worth £110,000 (€145,000), flown to England. The wedding was paid for by OK! Magazine, who paid the couple £1 million to publish pictures of the wedding.
In late January 2008 The Sun newspaper reported that Ashley Cole had been sleeping with several other women during their relationship and that the couple were in the process of separating.
On the 18 May 2008, the News of the World newspaper ran a story showing Cheryl kissing US TV star Will Luke, while in a hotel room with Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts.
