Si - My battler Cheryl

[Trout]

She is lookkn grand after pulling through from a serious illness

SIMON Cowell praised battling pal Cheryl Cole as she divorced cheating hubby Ashley yesterday, saying: "I don't know how she coped."
The X Factor guru believes Cheryl, 27, can now put her troubles behind her and enjoy life again.
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She is now "in a better place" after overcoming malaria and finalising her divorce, says Simon.
The X Factor mogul, 50, believes Cheryl's brush with the potentially deadly disease was "a wake-up call" that changed her outlook on life.
He praised Cheryl for her strength in coping with the strain of her split from Chelsea and England star Ashley - which was finalised in the divorce courts yesterday.
Fellow judge Louis Walsh last night admitted he NEVER thought Cheryl and Ashley would split. But he added: "I wish her all the best. I'm happy for her if she's happy."

Divorce ... Sun's front page
Focused

Simon told The Sun: "My feeling when I spoke to her recently was that she was feeling in a better place mentally.
"No one wants to go through malaria, but she has definitely come out with a different perspective and I think you will see a sharp, focused Cheryl Cole when she returns to X Factor.
"She seems more focused and it was a wake-up call to her. At the end of the day your health is the most important thing."
Simon said he had been in constant touch with the star, who was forced to pull out of the X Factor auditions after contracting malaria during a trip to Tanzania.
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He said: "We have spoken a lot, and now she has got a sense of perspective on life.
"In a weird way this has helped manage her life better. I think she is going to appreciate what she has and enjoy it more.
"I am not even putting the personal stuff into this as well. You have to deal with that and I don't know how she coped with that to be honest."

Simon - speaking shortly before the divorce was granted in the High Court yesterday - told of his fondness for the nation's new sweetheart and said she was a dead cert to land a job on the US X Factor, due to kick off this time next year.
He also revealed he had tried to get her to cut down her workload, saying: "I told her I understand the pressure - you want to be successful, you want to carry on doing what you are doing.
"But there is a massive amount of pressure that you are going to feel.
"She was thrown right into the middle of this.
"She was in a group, she is a solo artist, she is a star on the X Factor, she does all these campaigns.
"At some point I think you start to feel guilty about letting people down.
"And my advice to her was - 'You don't have to feel guilt, you have a choice now to choose what you want to do. And it's for you and not the people around you'.
"We used to talk a lot and we still do have these conversations."
Simon admitted Cheryl's malaria diagnosis came as a huge shock to him and his fellow judges, who had at first joked with Cheryl assuming she had a hangover.
Cheryl collapsed during the X Factor's Cardiff auditions, just two days after celebrating her birthday with a boozy party.
Simon said: "We didn't know what was going on. I remember saying funnily enough that she had gone to Africa for a trip and had come back for filming and I thought she was a bit off-colour, but more personality than physically.
"And then the day it kicked off we actually thought she had a hangover, so we were winding her up all day, and she was sleeping it off or whatever.

"And then of course we realised that it was serious a couple of days later. I got the call from her manager who told me just how serious this really was.
"In that situation you are not even thinking about the show at that point. You are just thinking, 'I hope she is going to be OK'.
"I didn't know much about it, but apparently it was a serious strain. We were very, very worried about her, she was seriously ill.
"When I knew she was on the mend, we got all the doctors' reports, she was kind of back to normal.
"And then I think within about a week she started getting in contact asking us when she was going to the home visit shows or something.
"She was ill, went home, got grumpy, got bored, and then wants to come back to work."
Simon said Cheryl is champing at the bit to get back on the show, and will film her judge's houses round later this month.
He said: "She can't wait to do it. She made a decision what she wanted to do, what she didn't want to do, because obviously under doctor's orders that was the case anyway."
Cheryl will whittle down the X Factor's girls category after Louis landed the over-28s, Simon took the groups and Dannii Minogue the boys.
Simon, who got Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger to stand in for Cheryl, admitted she may have been given an "easy ride" with the girls.

Meanwhile Louis said he was convinced that Cheryl would get back with cheating Ashley, 29.
He added: "I wish her all the best but honestly I never thought they would break up. I still thought she might have taken him back.
"But I'm happy for her if she's happy and I can't wait for the live shows to start. She always gives it 100 per cent. She's so vibrant and I hope she's happy, I really do."
Cheryl recently told how she can't wait to return to the X Factor.
She said: "I'm absolutely gutted I missed the last audition and the boot camp stage.

[ross4life]

To be honest Cheryl has done well for a normal run of the mill Chav

[Minder]

What is this shite?

[Tony Baloney]

Trout, you're a clown.

Did see this headline on one of the red tops today. Still don't see what the fascination is with this doll.

[omagh_gael]

I think the Trout has a notion on Mr Cowell

[onthepitch]

I think the Trout has a notion on Mr Cowell

Lads this is one of the worst topics ever kicked off on the board. We shouldn't even give it any more airtime.
FULL TIME ON THIS ONE!!!!

[Rav67]

You start some f**king awful threads