Cheryl Cole: from nightclub brawler to nation's sweetheart
Cheryl Cole's new album and single have topped the UK charts. Photo: Getty Images
Monday November 02 2009
Cheryl Cole's number one double - topping the album and single charts - caps her remarkable transformation from nightclub brawler to nation's sweetheart.
It wasn't too long ago that the singer, then known as Cheryl Tweedy, was convicted of assaulting a nightclub toilet attendant in what the judge described as "an unpleasant piece of drunken violence [for which] you showed no remorse whatsoever".
She was sentenced to carry out 120 hours of community service, ordered to pay her victim £500 (€553) in compensation and required to pay £3,000 (€3,318) in prosecution costs. The jury unanimously rejected Cole's claim to have acted in self-defence.
The court heard that a drunken and abusive Cole assaulted Sophie Amogbokpa after the toilet attendant asked her to pay for some lollipops. Miss Amogbokpa was left with a black eye and severe bruising.
Cole was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm but cleared of an additional charge of racially aggravated assault. Miss Amogbokpa, a black law student, claimed Cole had called her a "jigaboo" and a "----ing black bitch".
Cole carried out her attack in January 2003, shortly after Girls Aloud emerged as winners of the TV talent show Popstars: The Rivals. She offered to leave the band but the offer was rejected. Girls Aloud went on to defy expectations by notching up a string of hit singles.
The singer set about rehabilitating her image and carving out a career as the most high profile Girls Aloud member.
In July 2006, she married footballer Ashley Cole and sold the exclusive picture rights to a glossy magazine. She famously said: "If anyone cheated on me they'd be dead."
Eighteen months later, he allegedly slept with a 22-year-old hairdresser after a drunken night out Cole forgave him and blamed the hairdresser. "Ashley's young, and he's got quite a young mentality for his age anyway. He's learning. He has a beautiful soul." The public sympathised with Cheryl.
The marriage propelled Cole into a different showbiz league, and she caught the eye of Simon Cowell. He hired her in June 2008 to replace Sharon Osbourne as an X Factor judge. From her humble beginnings as a reality show contestant, she has become a British Vogue covergirl, face of L'Oreal, television star and now chart-topping solo artist.
As Cowell said on Sunday's X Factor while congratulating Cole on her chart double: "This is an incredible thing you have done."
- Anita Singh
© Telegraph.co.uk
