Simon Cowell 'washes his hands' of Cheryl Cole after X Factor snub

By Lara Gould


Separate lives: Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell (pictured together X Factor UK in 2010) have had no contact since she was sacked from X Factor USA


Her sizzling on-screen chemistry with Simon Cowell was cited as the reason she landed a £2 million contract on X Factor USA.

But two months after being humiliatingly sacked from the series, Cheryl Cole has apparently had no contact with her former mentor, severing all ties with the man once credited as making her a star.

A source close to the former Girls Aloud singer, who is in Los Angeles on an extended sabbatical, says despite 51-year-old Cowell planning to fly out to the city in the next two weeks, the pair have ‘no plans to meet up either now or in the foreseeable future’.

Friends no more? Simon and Cheryl at the 2011 Fox Upfront Presentation shortly before it was announced that Cheryl had been dropped from X Factor USA


The source said: ‘They have both moved on with their lives. She hasn’t spoken to him and they have no plans to see each other in America.’

Miss Cole once described Cowell as ‘one of the most important people in my life’ in an interview with Mail on Sunday columnist Piers Morgan last year.

She went on to say: ‘He’s annoying, but I do love him.’

But the rift which was triggered by her sacking from X Factor USA is said to have widened after the singer publicly rekindled her relationship with her ex-husband, Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole, at her 28th birthday party in London earlier this month.

A source close to Cowell said: ‘Cheryl is the last person on Simon Cowell’s mind at the moment. The party line if anyone in Simon’s group of friends is asked about her is to say, “Cheryl is still a star”.

‘He doesn’t want to talk about Cheryl and they know not to bring her name up.

'He will never openly criticise her but there is no relationship between them now.’

After being sacked in May, a move understood to have been ordered by senior executives at the Fox TV network, it was claimed Miss Cole refused to take calls from Cowell and X Factor representatives – a move that led ITV to withdraw its offer for her to resume her job on the panel of the British series.

Cheryl and Ashley Cole married in 2005, but split four years later after he was accused of cheating with five different women.

Cowell was said to have encouraged Miss Cole to leave the marriage, which ended in divorce last September, claiming it would harm her chances of success in America if she stayed with her husband.

Replaced: Nicole Scherzinger (second from right), who replaced Cheryl on the show, with fellow judges L.A. Reid Paula Abdul and Simon


source:dailymail